title: Attitudes toward older adults: A matter of cultural values or personal values?
abstract: The current research aimed to address the inconsistent findings regarding cultural differences in attitudes toward older adults by differentiating the effects of personal and cultural values. In Study 1, we used data from the sixth wave of the World Values Survey to examine attitudes toward older adults across cultures, and how different personal values (i.e., communal vs. agentic) and cultural values (i.e., individualism) predicted these attitudes. The results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that after controlling for potential covariates, personal communal values positively correlated with positive attitudes toward older adults; however, cultural individualistic values did not. To further examine the causal effects of personal values (vs. cultural values), we conducted an experimental study and confirmed that priming personal values rather than cultural values had significant effects on ageism attitudes. The present studies help to reconcile conflicting results on cultural differences in attitudes toward older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China.
authors.forename: Cai
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Guan, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, University of Surrey.
authors.forename: Yanjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Health Education, China Institute of Industrial Relations.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Melloy
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University.
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D063506:Ageism / Q000523:psychology*; D000375:Aging; D001290:Attitude; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires