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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 11
Publication Date: November 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.911.13343. Kitiashvili, A. (2022). Ageist Attitudes, Stereotypes and Behavior of Youth Towards the Elderly Within Georgia: How Significant are
Intergenerational Contact and Perceived Distance? Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(11). 283-300.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Ageist Attitudes, Stereotypes and Behavior of Youth Towards the
Elderly Within Georgia: How Significant are Intergenerational
Contact and Perceived Distance?
Anastasia Kitiashvili
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Tbilisi State University
ABSTRACT
Georgia has an aging society, with a high percentage of senior citizens in the general
population. However, only small number of research studies in the Georgian
context have been conducted to ascertain young people's attitudes towards older
adults. The study of age-related phenomena is important both from a scientific
point of view and for developing awareness-raising interventions and social policy.
The current study investigates young people's explicit and implicit ageist attitudes,
stereotypes and behaviors towards the elderly. We consider whether perceived
distance from older people and intergenerational contact exert an influence on
these variables. The research instruments were first translated from English into
Georgian and adapted to the local context using 150 young people as initial
respondents. The survey research was then carried out with 450 respondents,
employing convenience sampling in Tbilisi. Research has shown that young people
express more positive than negative explicit attitudes toward the elderly while
implicit measures also reveal ingrained negative attitudes. Most stereotypes about
older people feature lower expectations regarding physical and mental health, but
especially concerning cognitive function. Young people stereotypically perceive
older people as warm and kind, but with limited cognitive capacity. These
stereotypes are more relevant to the “pity’ category identified in the Stereotype
Content Model (SCM) representing a ‘pseudo-positive’ attitude toward older people
and they tend to result in infantilizing behavior, i.e., not letting aged people take
responsibility for their own lives. With increased perceived distance from older
people, the frequency of intergenerational contact decreases. Similarly, younger
people who harbor more robust explicit ageist attitudes toward older people
frequently seek to increase perceived distance and minimize their contact with the
elderly. More ageist attitudes are related to more ageist behaviours. Regression
analysis shows that explicit attitudes have the strongest influence on ageist
behavior followed by perceived distance, intergenerational contact and
stereotypes. The current study can provide a basis for further research on this
concept.
Keywords: young people, older people, stereotypes, explicit attitudes, implicit attitudes,
ageist behavior.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 11, November-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
INTRODUCTION
Current global demographic changes, such as increasing life expectancy and decreasing birth
rates, lead to a growth in the share of the world's aged population, known as "population aging".
Aging is a natural phenomenon, but attitudes toward aging are often ambivalent and hostile
towards older adults. For example, from a sample of 99 traits that American undergraduates
attributed to older adults, only one/third were positive (Schmidt and Boland, 1986).
Negative perceptions of old age make seniors feel more vulnerable and prevent them from
successfully coping with aging. In general, negative attitudes towards the aged diminish the
self-efficacy of the elderly population (Levy, 1996), their optimism (Gallagher & Lopez, 2009)
and consequently their well-being. In contrast, studies show that positive attitudes toward
aging are associated with better mental and physical health and well-being among the elderly
(Steverink et al., 2001; Lyons et al., 2017). Older people with high self-efficacy are more
physically active, more satisfied with their lives, and have fewer depressive symptoms
(Luszcynska et al., 2005). Kim (2013).
Aging is often associated with the gradual deterioration of the biological processes and the
increasing limitation of mental functions, a process ending in death. Consequently, there is a
stereotypical notion that old age is the end-of-life stage when people are sick, weak, dependent
on others, slow-moving, poor or lonely. Although older people are different from each other,
they are still considered by many to be one homogeneous group (Schaefer, 1983, Rychtaříková,
2019), with unfavorable status in many societies, leading to age-related stereotypes, negative
attitudes, and discrimination.
Stereotypes and ageism differ, people with positive attitudes toward older people can still
display negative stereotypes of older people when conversing with them. An example is the two
main types of communication: over-accommodation and baby talk. During over- accommodation, young people speak overly politely, slowly and loudly, consistent with the
stereotype that older people have hearing problems or cognitive slowing (Kite ME, Wagner LS,
2002). Baby talk is simplified speech with exaggerated intonation (Caporael L; Culbertson G,
1986). Some older people have a positive attitude towards this kind of speech as it is easy to
understand, while the older people with high cognitive and social functioning consider such
treatment humiliating (Giles H, Fox S, Harwood J, Williams, A, 1996). These forms of
communication reflect a tendency to diminish the autonomy of the elderly to take responsibility
for their lives (Fiske et al. 2002; Cuddy et al. 2005).
In a short period after the introduction of the concept of ageism, the research of this concept
expanded considerably in terms of the development of theoretical background as well as
empirical measures. However, there is still little research on age-related attitudes, stereotypes,
and behaviors toward older people in Georgia. Georgia is a nation with an aging population and
the share of the older population is systematically increasing; elderly make up 15.4 % of the
Georgian population in 2021 (Geostat, 2021), while in 2000 it was 12.9%, 2010 - 14.1%.
However, based on the local studies, we can assume that the aging of the nation in Georgia
should not be caused by the high standard of living of the elderly in the country (Sumbadze et
al., 2020), but rather due to current demographic changes, such as decreasing birth rate, high
percentages of Georgian labor migration among adults of working age.
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Kitiashvili, A. (2022). Ageist Attitudes, Stereotypes and Behavior of Youth Towards the Elderly Within Georgia: How Significant are Intergenerational
Contact and Perceived Distance? Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(11). 283-300.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.911.13343
Only a few research in the Georgian context have been conducted mainly within the master's
theses focused on studying young people's attitudes towards the elderly. Therefore, it is
important to study the age-related phenomenon in the context of Georgia, which is important
both from a scientific point of view, as well as for the development of evidence-based
awareness-raising interventions and social policy. Due to a lack of practical research experience
in this field, research instruments also need to be developed and adopted.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Age stereotypes are different from ageism because stereotypes can be both positive and
negative, while ageism is considered to be a negative factor in one's attitude. According to
Butler (1980), who first introduces the concept, ageism is the negative attitude of others and
the elderly towards themselves and the aging process, while Palmore (2001) points to positive
consequences of ageism for the elderly, including free medical care, discounts or tax breaks.
Rupp et al. (2005) found that negative attitudes toward the elderly are more noticeable among
young males, although both females and males reveal common stereotypes towards the elderly
(Levy & Banaji, 2004). Both, individualistic and collectivist cultures have a negative attitude
towards the elderly (Cuddy et al., 2005). Children begin to distinguish between "young" and
"older" "categories" from childhood, which is associated with the formation of stereotypes
about older people. Stereotypes are generally associated with categorization and reflect a
person's beliefs about the characteristics of a group of people.
One reason for people's stereotypes and superstitions is that they consider out-group members
different from themselves. The consequence of categorization highlights the perceived
similarities between the self and other in-group members on the one hand, and the perceived
differences between the self and outgroup members on the other hand. People fear their
relationships with individuals from different groups will be unpleasant, leading them to avoid
interrelationships (Mallett, Wilson, & Gilbert, 2008). Negative views of aging in general and
negative age-related stereotypes, in particular, are closely related to age discrimination or
prejudice towards older adults (Kotter-Grün, 2015).
According to the Contact Hypothesis (Allport, 1954), one way to reduce prejudice is to facilitate
increased contact among heterogeneous group members. As a result of closer contact, people
perceive members of external groups more similarly, which helps to inculcate positive attitudes
towards them. Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) conducted a meta-analysis in which they reviewed
more than 500 studies charting the impact of intergroup contact on group attitudes. The
analysis showed a positive effect of increased contact in overcoming negative stereotypes and
superstitions.
It is also essential to consider ageism along with the proximity factor. Proximity implies both
geographical access and social interaction. It should be noted that the closer a representative
of a particular group is to an individual, the greater his or her acceptance will be. Therefore,
when one closes the distance and increases the proximity of a youth to a particular aging
demographic group, the age discrimination will generally vanish over time. Therefore, with less
distance, stereotypes tend to vanish or become less pernicious (Ayalon & Tesch-Römer, 2018).