Are Older Adults More Optimistic? Evidence From China, Israel, and the United States

Abstract

Objectives Optimistic bias refers to the phenomenon that individuals believe bad things are less likely to happen to themselves than to others. However, whether optimistic bias could vary across age and culture is unknown. The present study aims to investigate: 1) whether individuals exhibit optimistic bias in the context of COVID-19 pandemic; 2) and whether age and culture would moderate such bias. Method 1051 participants recruited from China, Israel and the US took the online survey. Risk perceptions consists of three questions: estimating the infected probability of different social distance groups (i.e., self, close others, and non-close others), the days that it would take for the number of new infections to decrease to zero and the trend of infections in regions of different geographical distances (i.e., local place, other places inside participants’ country and other countries). Participants in China and the US also reported their personal communal values measured by Schwartz’s Value Survey. Results Results from HLM generally confirmed that 1) all participants exhibited optimistic bias to some extent, and 2) with age, Chinese participants had a higher level of optimistic bias than Israeli and US participants. Compared to their younger counterparts, older Chinese are more likely to believe that local communities are at lower risk of COVID-19 than other countries. Discussion These findings support the hypothesis that age differences in risk perceptions might be influenced by cultural context. Further analysis indicated that such cultural and age variations in optimistic bias were likely to be driven by age-related increase in internalized cultural values.

Characteristics associated with optimistic or pessimistic perception about the probability of contracting COVID-19: A cross-sectional study of Japanese older adults

“…This study showed that older age was associated with the tendency of an optimistic perception. A previous study reported that the association between age and optimistic bias against the risk of COVID-19 was stronger in China than in the US and Israel ( Lin et al, 2021 ). The authors attributed this difference to the cultural context and argued that optimistic bias could be reinforced with aging in a society with strong ties.…”

What Factors Are Associated With Psychological Vulnerability and Resiliency Among Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

“…A critical takeaway from the work in this special section is the finding that well-being among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic likely varies greatly based on demographic characteristics, including age, gender, and race. A few of the papers in this collection consider these variables ( H. Lin et al, 2022 ; T. Lin et al, 2021 ; Pearman et al, 2021 ); however, more work is needed. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has differentially affected subgroups of the population ( CDC, 2022 ), it is reasonable to expect that the processes associated with psychological vulnerability and/or resiliency also vary considerably based on demographic characteristics.…”

“… Lin et al (2022) evaluated loneliness progression among older adults in Florida (United States) and Ontario (Canada) at five time points during the first 6 months of the pandemic. They identified gender differences in the trajectory of loneliness between Florida and Ontario, with more loneliness among men in Florida and among women in Ontario.…”

“…Finally, one study evaluated the role of cultural differences in COVID-19-related psychological processes. Lin et al (2022) explore age-related and cultural differences in COVID-19-related optimistic bias (i.e., an individual’s belief that bad things are less likely to happen to them than to others). In a survey that compared younger and older adults from China, Israel, and the United States, the researchers observed that older Chinese participants demonstrated more COVID-19-related optimistic bias (e.g., than younger Chinese participants).…”