Are they half as strong as they used to be? An experiment testing whether age-related social comparisons impair older people's hand grip strength and persistence

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess how age-related social comparisons, which are likely to arise inadvertently or deliberately during assessments, may affect older people's performance on tests that are used to assess their needs and capability.DesignThe study randomly assigned participants to a comparison with younger people or a no comparison condition and assessed hand grip strength and persistence. Gender, education, type of residence, arthritis and age were also recorded.SettingAge UK centres and senior's lunches in the South of England.ParticipantsAn opportunity sample of 56 adults, with a mean age of 82.25 years.Main outcomes measuresHand grip strength measured using a manual hand dynamometer and persistence of grip measured using a stopwatch.ResultsComparison caused significantly worse performance measured by both strength (comparison =6.85 kg, 95% CI 4.19 kg to 9.5 kg, control group =11.07 kg, 95% CI 8.47 kg to 13.68 kg, OR =0.51, p=0.027) and persistence (comparison =8.36 s, 95% CI 5.44 s to 11.29 s; control group =12.57 s, 95% CI 9.7 s to 15.45 s, OR =0.49, p=0.045). These effects remained significant after accounting for differences in arthritis, gender, education and adjusting for population age norms.ConclusionsDue to the potential for age comparisons and negative stereotype activation during assessment of older people, such assessments may underestimate physical capability by up to 50%. Because age comparisons are endemic, this means that assessment tests may sometimes seriously underestimate older people's capacity and prognosis, which has implications for the way healthcare professionals treat them in terms of autonomy and dependency.

Will to live in older people's medical decisions: immediate and delayed effects of aging stereotypes

“…It would be interesting to see whether the effect of stereotype threat on older people might differ when they have been primed with positive versus negative traits. The present evidence is consistent with the idea that breaking the link between self and negative age stereotypes can eliminate a potential threat (Abrams, Eller, & Bryant, 2006;Abrams et al, 2008;Swift et al, 2012)-a finding with implications for older people's well-being.…”

“…Specifically, the subliminal activation of stereotypic traits increased the accessibility of age stereotype traits, and the backward counting “memory” task might have activated more negative representations of aging through stereotype threat. Previous research has shown that numerical and memory performance are domains in which older people are vulnerable to stereotype threat (Abrams et al., ; Hehman & Bugental, ; Hess, Hinson, & Statham, ; Swift, Lamont, & Abrams, ). Interestingly, however, engaging in the potential threatening task did not seem to have an effect if older people had first been primed with positive stereotypes.…”

Stereotype Threat in Sport: Recommendations for Applied Practice and Research

“…that are negatively stereotyped in sport are needed. For example, we found only two studies investigating the effect of age-based ST on performance in physical tasks in seniors, with one finding an effect (Swift, Lamont, & Abrams, 2012) but not the other (Horton, Baker, Pearce, & Deakin, 2010). Although these studies used physical (motor and strength) tasks, participants were from the general population, not from senior sport.…”

When Does the In-Group Like the Out-Group? Bias Among Children as a Function of Group Norms

“…For example, Abrams, Eller, and Bryant (2006, p. 694) stated that "it is widely assumed that intellectual performance declines with age." Other stereotype-based manipulations rely on more subtle cues-such as an age comparison or framing the task as stereotype-relevant-to activate negative stereotypes of aging (e.g., Chasteen, Bhattacharyya, Horhota, Tam, & Hasher, 2005;Desrichard & Kopetz, 2005;Swift et al, 2012).…”