Age Differences in Age Stereotypes: The Role of Life Domain and Cultural Context

We examined the domain-specific views of young and old people held by young (18–30 years, n = 278) and older adults (60–85 years, n = 289) in Germany, the USA, and India. Views about old and young people differed between life domains but were mostly similar across age groups and countries. Older adults in the USA and Germany – but not in India – held slightly less negative views about old people than did young people in some domains, possibly indicating a projection of better-than-expected own aging experiences of older adults into their in-group stereotypes in Western countries. The findings of our study can be explained by socialization processes, supporting mostly a developmental perspective regarding the acquisition and endorsement of age stereotypes

Views on Aging – Current Trends and Future Directions for Cross-Cultural Research

The investigation of what enables societies and individuals to age well remains one of the greatest challenges of our time. Views on aging are a decisive factor in this process, and thus, improving their understanding through cross-cultural research is of utmost importance. In the current review, we address the role of socio-ecological variables and cultural values and beliefs when investigating country differences in what people think about older persons and getting old themselves. Several complexities are introduced in terms of a differentiated conceptualization of views on aging that takes life domains and normative prescriptions into account, and also in terms of a differentiated and extended view on the factors through which societal and cultural aspects and views on aging mutually influence each other. We propose that an encompassing, lifespan framework on views on aging enhances our understanding of aging well in different cultural and societal contexts

Age specificity in explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes

In this study, we investigated explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes . To achieve that, we captured endorsement of a wide range of prescriptive expectations targeting both younger (younger adults are expected to be ambitious, eager to learn, unconventional, respectful) and older (older adults are expected to stay active, to be generous, dignified, and wise) people. Younger ( n = 58, 50% female, M age = 26.07 years, SD = 3.01) and older adults ( n = 75, 44% female, M age = 66.69 years, SD = 4.63) participated in the study. We assessed implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes with the Propositional Evaluation Paradigm (PEP) and used a direct measure to assess explicit endorsement. In general, we found strong support for age-specificity in both explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes: Sentences ascribing expectations for young/old to the respective age group (e.g., “young should be ambitious”; “old should be wise”) were endorsed much more strongly than sentences in which expectations for young/old were ascribed to the other age group (e.g., “old should be ambitious”; “young should be wise”). Age group differences in the endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes were found. Compared to younger participants, older participants showed stronger endorsement for prescriptive beliefs targeting both younger and older targets. Explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes did not correlate with one another, thus revealing they might assess independent belief systems with different predictive potential

Systemic family therapy and the elderly: contributions and challenges

O presente artigo descreve algumas intervenções clínicas de orientação sistêmica que podem ser realizadas com a população idosa. Quatro modalidades terapêuticas são abordadas: a terapia individual com idosos, a terapia de casal na terceira idade, o atendimento familiar com membros idosos e o idoso percebido como recurso à terapia familiar. Partindo de alguns conceitos desenvolvidos pela literatura da área, descrevemos situações prototípicas vivenciadas na terapia sistêmica com os desafios específicos desse momento de ciclo vital. O idoso pode ser percebido como um peso/fardo ou como um recurso pelo sistema familiar ao qual pertence, e até por ele mesmo. Por outro lado, a velhice bem-sucedida reflete um posicionamento pessoal que é intimamente influenciado pelas relações no sistema familiar dos idosos.This study aims to describe some systemic clinical interventions focused on the treatment of elderly individuals. Four different therapeutics modes are explored: individual therapy, couple's therapy, family therapy with elder family members, and accessing elder members to help in the family therapy process. Some prototype situations in therapy with elderly individuals are discussed, taking into account some concepts developed in family therapy. The elderly can be perceived by the family, or even by themselves, as a weight or as a resource. On the other hand, successful aging reflects a personal position that is influenced by family relations

Views on Aging – Current Trends and Future Directions for Cross- Cultural Research

The investigation of what enables societies and individuals to age well remains one of the greatest challenges of our time. Views on aging are a decisive factor in this process, and thus, improving their understanding through cross-cultural research is of utmost importance. In the current review, we address the role of socio-ecological variables and cultural values and beliefs when investigating country differences in what people think about older persons and getting old themselves. Several complexities are introduced in terms of a differentiated conceptualization of views on aging that takes life domains and normative prescriptions into account, and also in terms of a differentiated and extended view on the factors through which societal and cultural aspects and views on aging mutually influence each other. We propose that an encompassing, lifespan framework on views on aging enhances our understanding of aging well in different cultural and societal contexts

The improvement of emotion and attention regulation after a 6-week training of focused meditation :

Self-regulatory trainings can be an effective complementary treatment for mental health disorders. We investigated the effects of a six-week-focused meditation training on emotion and attention regulation in undergraduates randomly allocated to a meditation, a relaxation, or a wait-list control group. Assessment comprised a discrimination task that investigates the relationship between attentional load and emotional processing and self-report measures. For emotion regulation, results showed greater reduction in emotional interference in the low attentional load condition in meditators, particularly compared to relaxation. Only meditators presented a significant association between amount of weekly practice and the reduction in emotion interference in the task and significantly reduced image ratings of negative valence and arousal, perceived anxiety and difficulty during the task, and state and trait-anxiety. For attention regulation, response bias during the task was analyzed through signal detection theory. After training, meditation and relaxation significantly reduced bias in the high attentional load condition. Importantly, there was a doseresponse effect on general bias: the lowest in meditation, increasing linearly across relaxation and wait-list. Only meditators reduced omissions in a concentrated attention test. Focused meditation seems to be an effective training for emotion and attention regulation and an alternative for treatments in the mental health context

Avaliação de discriminação contra idosos em contexto brasileiro – ageismo

Os autores agradecem a colaboração de Débora Verdi, Hanna Sainio e Ivalina Porto na etapa de coleta de dados deste estudo. Os autores agradecem aos locais de coleta de dados: Centro de Esportes, Lazer e Recreação para o Idoso (CELARI/UFRGS), Meninos da Bocha – Parque Alim Pedro, Universidade do Adulto Maior (UAM/IPA), Núcleo de Atendimento à Terceira Idade (NATIEx/Policlínica Militar de Porto Alegre), Projeto QualiVida e Núcleo Universitário da Terceira Idade (NUTI/FURG).Buscou-se identificar os tipos predominantes de discriminação contra idosos que ocorrem no Brasil, bem como o nível de estresse que lhes está associado. Compararam-se também os resultados da amostra brasileira aos de duas amostras de referência, uma americana e uma portuguesa. Participaram 111 indivíduos, os quais responderam a um questionário biosociodemográfico e ao Ageism Survey, que integra itens relativos a estereótipos negativos, atitudes e comportamentos de discriminação face ao idoso. Os resultados revelaram que os tipos de discriminação predominantes foram os relativos aos contextos sociais e de saúde. Quanto ao nível de estresse, a maior parte dos itens apresentou uma baixa média de estresse. Isso pode indicar que a vivência de discriminação nem sempre se associa explicitamente ao estresse.This study measured the prevalence of ageism in Brazil, as well as the stress level that is associated to it. Also, the Brazilian sample was compared to other two reference samples, an American and a Portuguese one. All participants (111 individuals) answered a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Ageism Survey, which is composed by items related to negative stereotypes, attitudes and elderly discrimination behavior. The results showed that the discrimination occurs more in social contexts, followed by those that occur in health contexts. As for the stress evaluation associated to the episodes of discrimination, in general, the mean of the items associated to stress was low. This may indicate that, for this sample, experiencing discrimination is not always related to stress.CNPq e Programa AlBan (Programa de Bolsas de Alto Nível da União Européia para América Latina) (bolsa nº E06M103402BR)