{"id":142,"date":"2020-02-03T08:46:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T08:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/upgrade-stop\/?p=142"},"modified":"2020-08-21T14:29:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T13:29:00","slug":"the-barriers-to-and-enablers-of-positive-attitudes-to-ageing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/the-barriers-to-and-enablers-of-positive-attitudes-to-ageing\/","title":{"rendered":"The barriers to and enablers of positive attitudes to ageing"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

More about Dr Hannah Swift<\/a><\/p>\n

Full text of report<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

About<\/h3>\n

Ageism is the most prevalent form of discrimination in the UK (Abrams <\/span>et al<\/em>.<\/em>, 2011a), estimated to cost the economy \u00a331 billion per year (Citizens Advice, 2007). It restricts employment opportunities<\/span> and reduces workplace productivity and innovation<\/span>. <\/span>Ageism also results in inequality and social exclusion, reducing social cohesion and well-being. Not only is ageism a barrier to the inclusion and full participation of older people in society, but it also affects everyone by obscuring our understanding of the ageing process. Moreover, by reinforcing negative stereotypes, ageism can even shape patterns of behaviour that are potentially detrimental to people\u2019s self-interest<\/span>.<\/span>
\n\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this project, the researchers <\/span>collaborate with the Government Office for Science to <\/span>review national <\/span>and<\/span> international research <\/span>(conducted between 19<\/span>79<\/span> and 2015) that explores<\/span> attitudes to ageing<\/span>. This project helps explain how certain attitudes can result in discrimination and other damaging consequences. Finally, it<\/span> outline<\/span>s<\/span> the prevalence of perceived age-based discrimination and its consequences for individuals and society<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This project has important implications for policy, research and practice that can help reduce ageism in society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research objectives\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

T<\/span>he<\/span> objective w<\/span>as<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Conduct a review of existing literature (last 25 years) on attitudes to ageing<\/span><\/p>\n

Factors affecting prejudice investigated:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Individual characteristics<\/span><\/b> (age, gender, education, ethnic minority membership, working status, residential area, subjective poverty, intergenerational contact)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Macro-social characteristics <\/span><\/b>(GDP, Inequality, State pension age, Unemployment rate, Population age ratio, <\/span>Urbanisation<\/span>, <\/span>Culural<\/span> values)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Programme and methodology\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u2022 Detailed search of articles from 1979-2015 using Google Scholar<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 1552 articles were produced of which 738 were relevant research articles\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 160 of these originated in the UK (or internationally including the UK)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Further review of 14 national\/international surveys\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Further 30 articles generated from contact with funders and researchers <\/span><\/p>\n

Findings\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u2022 P<\/span>rimarily positive effects of being older and being female on stereotypes and attitudes to old age.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 P<\/span>rimarily negative effects of being an urban dweller, subjectively poorer, and in work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 M<\/span>ore <\/span>favourable<\/span> view of the status of people aged over 70 years in:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Ri<\/span>cher and more unequal countries<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 C<\/span>ountries with later SPAs<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Countries with higher proportion of people aged over 65<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Countries in which autonomy is valued more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Impact\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u2022 This project offered <\/span>new and important information<\/span><\/b> on understanding ageism in Britain<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 The findings from this project give clear suggestions to policy-makers, researchers and practitioners on ways in which ageism can be reduced.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Additional research <\/span>using prospective or experimental designs<\/span> to test the effect of different interventions to change or counter destructive age stereotypes.
\ne.g. <\/span>Contact interventions weaken the \u2018them\u2013us\u2019 age: intergenerational interaction, contact between people from different social groups<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Policies must be put in place to track and be responsive to, changing social attitudes and expectations about age and ageing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Findings suggest<\/span> policymakers ensure the social inclusion and participation of older people as part of a generationally connected society.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  More about Dr Hannah Swift Full text of report About Ageism is the most prevalent form of discrimination in the UK (Abrams et al., 2011a), estimated to cost the economy \u00a331 billion per year (Citizens Advice, 2007). It restricts employment opportunities and reduces workplace productivity and innovation. Ageism also results in inequality and social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":1843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prejudice-age"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2274,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/2274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}