Helping Relationships With Older Adults. Adelle M. Williams

      Chapter 2 Historical Perspectives and Changing Attitudes Toward Older Adults

       “Old age is not lost youth, but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”

      —Betty Friedan

      Learning Objectives

      After reading this chapter, you will be able to

      Introduction

      Older persons have made and continue to make numerous contributions to society. They are instrumental to their families, communities, work environment, and numerous other arenas. While on a personal level many families respect their elders, as a society, much more work is needed. American society values youth, beauty, and vitality, and these attributes are not viewed as representative of aging persons. These negative perceptions impede their ability to live comfortably and engage successfully in all avenues of life. Change is needed to reengage and reinvigorate this large segment of our society, as myths, stereotypes, and discrimination abound. Helping professionals must work as advocates on behalf of older clients and display a willingness to train and educate the uninformed regarding the strengths that elders bring to different situations. Issues including ageism, impact of the baby boom generation, employment practices, and mental health services as part of the aging network will be examined in this chapter.

      Perceptions of Growing Older and Societal Influences

      The media have a very powerful influence on the way society thinks, feels, and behaves. Mass media, particularly television and movies, define social roles in contemporary culture by presenting a steady and repetitive portrayal of images and a system of messages. The media emphasizes youth and beauty and overly simplistic portrayals of individuals. This emphasis exacerbates the negative image of aging and the elderly in American culture, because the stereotypes of aging are the antithesis of the attributes upon which television and movies thrive (Monsees, 2002).

      The mass media play a powerful role in shaping American attitudes, and the media’s portrayal of aging and older people can vary depending on its objective. In promotion of products, older people may be pictured in association with products such as medicine, including those to address incontinence and impotence, dental and digestive aids, and cosmetics to decrease signs of aging (Brownell, Mundorf, & Mundorf, 2006). When the media focus on general television programming or movies for the general public, older persons are typically cast in supporting roles versus leading roles (Hilt & Lipschultz, 2004), which promote stereotypes. Television programming has few older heroes. Older fashion models are rare, and advertising lacks the mature face (Dennis & Thomas, 2007). Repeated exposure to negative images of older adults, limited exposure to elders in more positive and leading roles may continue to lead to devaluing of older adults in society. Examination of the role of the media will highlight the portrayal of older persons and the need to alter this portrayal in Guided Practice Exercise 2.1.

      Guided Practice Exercise 2.1

      The media have a powerful influence on our viewpoints, and it permeates many aspects of our lives. How do the media portray older persons? Choose one form of media (television, radio, print) and identify both positive and negative images of older adults. Quantify the images and place in a positive or negative category. Now tabulate the columns and discuss the implications of these data with peers and colleagues. Identify ways to improve the representation of older persons in the media and ways to enhance the image of older persons.

      Gender plays a role in societal perceptions, and many studies have found that people are more likely to view men as losing general competence or ability with age, yet they are more likely to judge women as needing more help with age (Kite, Stockdale, Whitley, & Johnson, 2005). Because of age stereotypes, the very same behavior in younger versus older individuals is perceived differently. When younger adults forget information, the cause is more likely to be seen as transient and external, such as “that’s a hard thing to remember.” When older people forget, the cause is more likely to be seen as something stable and internal, such as having a poor memory (Kite et al., 2005).

      Aging can bring stereotypic reaction and expectations from others, which may interfere with satisfying social interactions. Researchers have found that when older individuals perceive themselves as the target of age discrimination, their sense of well-being is negatively affected (Gartska, Schmitt, Branscombe, & Hummert, 2004). This discrimination can come from anyone, as individuals of all ages tend to judge older people more negatively when compared to younger people (Hess, 2006).

      Stereotypes

      One of the problems with stereotyping is that people sometimes act on these oversimplified assumptions, which leads to age discrimination. Older workers have been discriminated against on the basis of the stereotypes that they are unable to learn new things, are less productive than younger workers, are more likely to miss work because of sickness, and are set in their ways. Even though all of these stereotypes have been disproven by research, they still persist.

      Consequences of stereotyping have been examined. There is a new line of research showing that older people internalize negative stereotypes and that these aging self-stereotypes can influence cognitive and physical health (Levy, 2002). Hess, Hinson, and Stratham (2004) studied the ways in which positive and negative stereotypes influence older adults’ performance on a memory task. Participants who were exposed to negative stereotypes performed more poorly than those who were primed with positive stereotypes. Additionally, the concept of “stereotype threat” is used to help explain the impact of stereotypes on memory, cognition, and health. It suggests that when individuals are afraid that their behavior will reinforce a negative stereotype about a group to which they belong, their performance is affected.

      Age stereotypes are communicated in numerous ways. Television programs, advertisements, jokes, and birthday cards are often full of age stereotypes. Stereotypes stem from society’s need to simplify the social world through the creation of categories, and they are related to age norms that suggest certain roles and behavior as appropriate at certain ages and not at others. From these benign or neutral starting points, age stereotypes can lead to age discrimination and aging self-stereotypes and can thus affect the psychological and social quality of life for older people.

      Guided Practice Exercise 2.2 provides an opportunity to explore ways to replace stereotypes and myths regarding aging with factual information.

      Guided Practice Exercise 2.2

      Many individuals fear growing older and there exists stereotypes and myths associated with aging. Identify ways you would dispel myths and stereotypes of aging. At what levels would you suggest target areas? How would you suggest integrating aging content into a curriculum at an early developmental stage?

      Case Illustration 2.1 provides a glimpse of how preconceived ideas on the part of the professional counselor can impede the development of a trusting therapeutic relationship with an older client seeking services.

      Case Illustration 2.1

      Ageism is one of the negative consequences experienced by some elders in today’s society. Differential treatment of older clients may occur in mental health settings, which lead to underutilization of mental health services. Ms. Timmons is a 75-year-old female who is self-referred to an outpatient mental health facility. Her presenting symptoms include difficulty sleeping, appetite disturbance, lack of interest