Does negative information about aging influence older adults’ physical performance and subjective age?

Marquet, Manon; Boutaayamou, Mohamed; Schwartz, Cédric; Locquet, Médéa; Bruyère, Olivier; Croisier, Jean-Louis; Adam, Stéphane

doi:10.1016/j.archger.2018.06.013

Cited by 19 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…This suggests that the presence of negative age stereotypes increased cognitive load during walking in a significant manner (Boisgontier et al, 2011). Consistent with past research (Barber et al, 2020;Hausdorff et al, 1999;Horton et al, 2010;Marquet et al, 2018;Moriello et al, 2013), walking parameters were not significantly affected by the stereotype manipulation when older adults were asked to walk at their normal speed (although they tended to walk faster in the stereotype condition than in the control condition). A possible explanation is that stereotype threat may not be damaging in this situation, because task demands are not high enough.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…However, although stereotype threat effects have been consistently observed on older adults' cognitive performance (for a meta-analysis see Lamont, Swift, & Abrams, 2015), results on motor performance are mixed: whereas a few studies have reported this phenomenon (Barber, Hamel, Ketcham, Lui, & Taylor-Ketcham, 2020;Chiviacowsky, Cardozo, & Chalabaev, 2018;Swift et al, 2012), most research showed no significant stereotype threat effect (Lamont et al, 2015), and more especially on tasks assessing stability during gait (Hausdorff, Levy, & Wei, 1999;Horton, Baker, Pearce, & Deakin, 2010;Marquet et al, 2018;Moriello, Cotter, Shook, Dodd-McCue, & Welleford, 2013). This absence of effect may be due to the task usually used to assess mobility: preferred walking speed, also called comfortable gait speed, which is considered a valid index of general physical health and is associated with independent living in older adults (Alexander, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

“The threat is in the head, not in the legs”: Activating negative age stereotypes generates extra cognitive load during walking

Chalabaev

Palluel

Ruchaud

2020

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“The threat is in the head, not in the legs”: Activating negative age stereotypes generates extra cognitive load during walking

Chalabaev

Palluel

Ruchaud

2020

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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“…Self-rated health, while not a component of the Fried frailty phenotype, is also a marker of frailty [ 40 ]. Negative age stereotypes and social stigma may explain the effects of health on subjective age [ 9 – 11 , 41 ]. Older adults are often considered worthless and incompetent [ 42 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bidirectional relationship between subjective age and frailty: a prospective cohort study

Liu

Miyawaki

et al. 2021

BMC Geriatr

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Background Subjective age refers to how young or old individuals experience themselves to be and is associated with health status, behavioral, cognitive, and biological processes that influence frailty. However, little research has examined the relationship between subjective age and frailty among older adults. This study examined the bidirectional association between subjective age and frailty among community-dwelling older adults. Methods We used data from the 2011 to 2015 waves of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Our sample consists of 2,592 community-dwelling older adults with complete data on main outcome variables. Subjective age was measured by asking participants, “What age do you feel most of the time?” Based on the five phenotypic criteria: exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, low physical activity, slow gait, and weak grip strength, frailty was categorized into robust = 0, pre-frailty = 1 or 2; frailty = 3 or more criteria met. Generalized estimating equation models were used to examine the concurrent and lagged association between subjective age and frailty. Results Participants were, on average, 75.2 ± 6.8 years old, non-Hispanic whites (76 %), female (58 %). 77 % of the participants felt younger, 18 % felt the same, and 5 % felt older than their chronological age. About 45 %, 46 %, and 9 % of the participants were robust, pre-frailty and frailty in the first wave, respectively. Generalized estimating equations revealed that an “older” subjective age predicted a higher likelihood of pre-frailty and frailty (OR, 95 % CI = 1.93, 1.45–2.56). Conclusions These findings suggest that people with older subjective age are more likely to be pre-frail/frail. Subjective age could be used as a quick and economical screening for those who are potentially frailty or at risk for frailty.

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“…Capturing this may require novel research designs. Further, everyday stereotype-relevant tasks may not always be as difficult or pressured as the tests typically used within ABST research ( Lamont et al, 2015 ), and automatic or easier tasks may be less affected by changes in emotions, motivations and working memory ( Horton et al, 2010 ; Swift et al, 2012a , b ; Chiviacowsky et al, 2018 ; Marquet et al, 2018 ; Barber et al, 2020 ; Chalabaev et al, 2020 ). It is then a question of whether ABST effects should and can be measured.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Performance decrements on cognitive tests are most commonly attributed to performance inhibiting reactions to age stereotypes, such as changes in working memory and motivational focus ( Steele and Aronson, 1995 ; Schmader et al, 2008 ; Barber and Mather, 2013 ). The most up-to-date meta-analysis of this research area shows support for ABST effects on the memory and wider cognitive performance of older adults ( Lamont et al, 2015 ), and some research has investigated how ABST effects physical outcomes, such as walking and grip strength ( Lamont et al, 2015 ; Chiviacowsky et al, 2018 ; Marquet et al, 2018 ; Barber et al, 2020 ). Collectively, ABST research has been vital in demonstrating the detrimental effects of negative age stereotypes for older people and has evidenced the need to reframe and challenge representations of age ( Swift et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Perceived Age-Based Judgement as a Precursor to Age-Based Stereotype Threat in Everyday Settings

2021

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Test conditions eliciting negative stereotypes of aging among older adults can prompt age-based stereotype threat (ABST), which results in worse performance on cognitive and memory tests. Much of this research explores ABST as a phenomenon that impacts the performance of older adults. Little is known about the experience of ABST beyond performance settings and how it manifests in everyday contexts across different age groups. Gaps also remain in understanding the wider impacts of ABST, such as effects on task motivation and engagement. The current research addresses this by exploring the contexts in which age-based judgement, a theorized precursor to ABST, occurs across a wide age range of participants. The two studies in this paper present mixed-methods survey data for a total of 282 respondents aged 18–84 years. Study 1 presents a thematic analysis of open-ended responses to identify the stereotypes and settings that underpin perceived age-based judgement. The settings and stereotypes identified are discussed in relation to which contexts lend themselves to adverse ABST effects. Study 2 then asked respondents to rate the extent to which they experience threat-based concern within 12 contexts identified from Study 1. Results indicate differences in threat-based concerns between young, middle-aged and older adults for physical activity, driving, using public transport, using technology, in leadership and relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. The studies provide a foundation for future research to investigate (1) the motivational and behavioural consequences of threat-based concerns for younger adults’ driving and leadership, and in the context of the pandemic; (2) cues to ‘old’ age stereotypes and threat-based concerns among late middle-aged adults within the workplace; (3) the role of broad stereotypes of ‘incompetence’ and being ‘past-it’ on middle-aged and older adults’ engagement with technology and physical activity and (4) potential ABST effects resulting from stereotypes of older people as a burden and a problem in the context of a national crisis. Overall, this research extends our understanding of ABST by identifying further contexts and age groups that could be impacted by a wider range of ABST effects.

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Does negative information about aging influence older adults’ physical performance and subjective age?

Cited by 19 publications

References 55 publications

“The threat is in the head, not in the legs”: Activating negative age stereotypes generates extra cognitive load during walking

“The threat is in the head, not in the legs”: Activating negative age stereotypes generates extra cognitive load during walking

Bidirectional relationship between subjective age and frailty: a prospective cohort study

Understanding Perceived Age-Based Judgement as a Precursor to Age-Based Stereotype Threat in Everyday Settings

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