Many forms of discrimination are considered reprehensible, except ageism. It almost feels normalised. The World Health Organisation reports that, globally, 1 in 2 people are ageist. It follows, ageism is a hurdle faced by people everywhere. “It’s so pervasive, its so accepted, it’s so invisible” states Nancy Morrow-Howell, the Betty Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Ageism is not just bad for society, and economies but also for the individuals that support discriminatory views of older people. For example, research has found that stereotypical ageist prejudice can be developed from childhood, where children are influenced by negative ageist tropes from social media to the language used by family members such as, for example, “I’m over the hill or “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. This teaches children that when you are old, you are now incapable of learning or changing.
Yet, largely, such perceptions are not realistic. For example, while the risk of disability and certain illnesses does increase with age, cognitive ability and health remain intact for the majority of people into their final years.
Is dementia inevitable in old age?
In the UK, it is less than 10% of people over the age of 651. So, straight away we bust a common myth that if you’re old you get dementia. Most people won’t. And for many, old age doesn’t start until you are 752. This is the point when people generally believe you now have a greater chance of heart problems, stokes and so on. Yet it is interesting to discover, those with negative thoughts toward old age are 50 percent more likely to be hospitalised, with a third showing to being much less likely to recover from disabilities from the age of 70 onwards,3 compared to people who think positively about being older.
This suggests, that when negative thoughts about old age have been embedded in our thoughts for decades the consequences can be very bad and very expensive.Then there is memory loss. Surely being old means being forgetful? While memory is affected by age, the working memory that holds information temporarily does tend to decline. Yet, the semantic memory, which is the ability to recall ideas and facts can often be seen to get better as we age.4 Such advancements can be hampered of course by genetics or negativity such as adding ageing to that list. Indeed, research shows negativity about age can account for a massive 30 per cent of additional decline.5 This suggests that a component of the system to help protect against Alzheimer’s could be cognitive in nature.6
Intriguingly negative discriminatory attitudes toward old age can affect sensory perception too. Being hard of hearing is considered part of being older but age is merely one component of multiple causes that can cause it.7
Perhaps more obviously, there is also an impact on mental health as negative beliefs on ageing are associated with increased risk of depression8. Yet, in contrast, those who take a more positive attitude to age show an average survival of seven and-a-half years over those who have taken on more negative age beliefs.9
Discussion
We see time and again negative stereotypes toward ageing can seriously impact upon health outcomes and consequently upon the resources of healthcare providers. And this starts early. This suggests that to resist or even reverse normalised ageist stereotypes, will require structural changes. This will be a long and hard road. So, perhaps one starting place is with your own attitudes. Afterall, it is your health we are really discussing for ageism is a health issue. For health is a systemic issue. Health and well-being doesn’t conveniently sit on a straight line. It is multifaceted.
It follows, recognising and understanding our prejudices is key to dismantling them and can lead to deep understanding – here of ageing – and shedding light on possibilities of slowing it. For example, there are some cultures where multiple generations are more likely to still live together, promoting positive age awareness. Could this help explain why, for example, in the UK, those of Asian ethnicity generally outlive white people? 10
Conclusion
Prevention is better than cure.
And, with, for example in the UK, an ageing population so we are reminded constantly of the increasing burden of healthcare expenditure. Yet, one major prevention measure saving billions of pounds of waste and poor health outcomes for many, is ridding ageism from our society that can start in our earliest years. Consequently, as in any organisational structure, where functions, management, decisions, and so on are isolated and siloed, allowing attitudes to fester to resist net positive change, waste is allowed to remain hidden from view affecting performance and experience destroying value for all.
Performance whether it be in older age or in an organisational setting is uncovering the impact of waste, risk and cost in all we do to uncover the opportunities currently foregone.
Christopher Gleadle
1 NHS – What Is Dementia? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dementia/about-dementia/what-is-dementia/
2 Growing Old in America: Expectations Vs Reality – https://www.pewresearch.org/ trends/2009/06/29/growing-old-in-america-expectations-vs-reality/
3 Association Between Positive Age Stereotypes And Recovery From Disability. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1392557
4 Understanding ageing brains https://www.apa.org/topics/aging-older-adults/memory-brain-changes.
5 Memory Shaped By Age Stereotypes Over Time – https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/67/4/432/566096
6 We May Finally Know How Cognitive Reserve Protects Against Alzheimer’s https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26034610-800-we-may-finally-know-how-cognitive-reserve-protects-against-alzheimers/
7 Hearing Decline Predicted by Elders’ Stereotypes https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/61/2/P82/558391.
8 The Effects Of Ageing Stereotypes On The Will To Live https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12557880/
9 Attributing illness to old age
10 Life Expectancy Lower For White And Mixed Ethnic People Than Black And Asian Groups https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/26/life-expectancy-lower-for-white-and-mixed-ethnic-people-than-black-and-asian-groups-study