Understanding cohort differences in cross-generational, self, and peer perceptions.
Thirty adolescent, middle-aged, and elderly people participated in a study exploring (a) their self-, inter- and intra-cohort perceptions; (b) ascribed social distance; (c) knowledge of aging; and (d) the relationships among these phenomena. Data were gathered using a Social Distance Scale, Goals of Life Index, Facts on Aging Quiz, and Aging Semantic Differentials. In general, elderly adults were the most devalued and middle-aged adults the most favored cohort. Unfavorable attitudes toward elderly people were predicted more by age-related social distance and societally induced biases than differential investments in psychosocial life tasks. Appraising one's member cohort more favorably than those outside it was paralleled by a tendency to view the self more favorably than peers. The discrepancy between societal and older individuals' views of aging suggests that the social breakdown syndrome itself may be breaking down: Older adults are moving away from a characterization of themselves as ineffective and dependent. A similar view might be engendered in younger cohorts if social distance were reduced and more attention paid to assertions of elderly adults rather than to societally induced stereotypes.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010379:Peer Group; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012649:Self Concept; D012660:Semantics