Definition
Aging, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined by the process of getting older, the process of making something appear older than it is, or in reference to something that has reached the end of its usefulness (Oxford English Dictionary n.d.). “Ageism” refers to discrimination of a person based on age, and in the context of this chapter, to the discrimination of older adults, this is also sometimes called, “gerontophobia.” In Western society, and especially the United States, it is commonly accepted that the greater society is youth oriented, and thus, older adults are less respected (Hillier and Barrow 2011; Nelson 2002). Stereotypes refer to beliefs and opinions about people or groups, which may stem from personal experience or societal beliefs. The act of stereotyping may come from a basic need for categorization important for...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bragg, E. J., & Warshaw, G. A. (2005). ACGME requirements for geriatric medicine curricula in medical specialties: Progress made and progress needed. Academic Medicine, 80(3), 279–285.
Butler, R. (1969). Age-ism: Another form of bigotry. The Gerontologist, 9(4), 243–246.
Butler, R. N., Lewis, M. I., & Sunderland, T. (1998). Aging and mental health: Positive psychosocial and biomedical approaches. Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon.
Cavanaugh, J. C., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2002). Adult development and aging (4th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth Group.
Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American psychologist, 54(3), 165.
Eymard, A., & Douglas, D. (2012). Ageism among health care providers and interventions to improve their attitudes toward older adults: An integrative review. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 38(5), 26–35. doi:10.3928/00989134-20120307-09.
Hillier, S. M., & Barrow, G. M. (2011). Aging, the individual, and society (9th ed.). Australia/Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Institute of Medicine (US) Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Berg RL, Cassells JS, editors. The Second Fifty Years: Promoting Health and Preventing Disability. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); (1992). 1, Introduction. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK235622/
Keijsers, C. J. P. W., van Hensbergen, L., Jacobs, L., Brouwers, J. R. B. J., de Wildt, D. J., ten Cate, O. T., & Jansen, P. A. F. (2012). Geriatric pharmacology and pharmacotherapy education for health professionals and students: A systematic review. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 74(5), 762–773.
Kydd, A., & Wild, D. (2012). Attitudes towards caring for older people: Literature review methodology. Nursing Older People, 25(3), 22–27.
Levy, B. R. (2003). Mind matters: Cognitive and physical effects of aging self-stereotypes. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 58B(4), 203–211.
National Institute on Aging. (2012, March 26). Living longer [Text]. Retrieved September 5, 2015, from https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/publication/global-health-and-aging/living-longer
Nelson, T. D. (2002). Ageism stereotyping and prejudice against older persons. Cambridge: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/id/10225310
Nelson, T. D. (2011). Ageism: The strange case of prejudice against the older you. In R. L. Wiener & S. L. Willborn (Eds.), Disability and aging discrimination (pp. 37–47). New York: Springer.
Nelson, T. D. (Ed.). (2015). Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). “ageing, n.”. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/3838?rskey=NkSVUe&result=1&isAdvanced=false
Robb, C., Chen, H., & Haley, W. E. (2002). Ageism in mental health and health care: A critical review. Journal of Clinical Geropsychology, 8(1), 1–12.
Schaie, K. W., & Willis, S. L. (2011). Handbook of the psychology of aging. Amsterdam/Boston: Elsevier/Academic. Retrieved from http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=610538
Siegel, R. J. (2004). Ageism in psychiatric diagnosis. In P. J. Caplan & L. Cosgrove (Eds.), Bias in psychiatric diagnosis (pp. 89–97). Lanham: Jason Aronson.
Stuart-Hamilton, I. (2006). The psychology of ageing (Vol. 4). London: Jessica Kingsly Publisher.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this entry
Cite this entry
Liou-Johnson, V., Van Moorleghem, K., Mills, B., O’Hara, R. (2016). Aging, Inequalities, and Health. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_188-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_188-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences