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Elders tend to be portrayed by the media as selfishly promoting programs that benefit the old. We predicted, however, that older individuals who choose positive stereotypes about the young over positive stereotypes about the old would oppose an increase in spending on these programs. By analyzing the responses of 1656 individuals, we found: (1) older participants were more likely than younger participants to oppose increased funding of Social Security, Meals on Wheels, and Medicare; and (2) this opposition to increased funding for Social Security and Meals on Wheels was predicted by a stereotype of aging based on a more favorable perception of the capabilities of the young than of the old. Our findings suggest that elders' evaluation of programs that benefit their age group may be more influenced by stereotypes internalized decades earlier than by their current group interests.

Background: Research has found that the elderly are the age group that is the least likely to engage in preventive health behaviors, even though these behaviors continue to benefit individuals throughout the life span. We investigated for the first time whether an age-specific factor, older individuals' beliefs about their own aging, predicts their likelihood of engaging in preventive health behaviors over time., Methods: We conducted multivariate linear regression to test the predictive value of aging self-perceptions on the preventive health behaviors of 241 individuals, who participated in the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR) aged 50-80 years old. The preventive health behaviors included eating a balanced diet, exercising, and following directions for taking prescribed medications., Results: Individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging tended to practice more preventive health behaviors over the next two decades after controlling for age, education, functional health, gender, self-rated health, and race (P = 0.032)., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that addressing views about aging could help improve efforts to increase preventive health behaviors in the older population.

The development of the Image of Aging Scale is described. It ineludes positive and negative images of elders within nine domains. The scale showed good 1-wk. test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity.

Objective: We sought to examine whether higher rates of depression in women than in men can be explained partially by the artifact hypothesis, which suggests that when both sexes have the same depressive symptoms, women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with depression. We hypothesized that (1). this gender bias in identifying depression exists within families and (2). family members will be more likely to attribute depressive symptoms to internal causes for women and external causes for men., Methods: Our sample consisted of 205 adults, generated from the family members of 46 probands who participated in the Yale Family Study. To determine whether bias exists in the family, we compared self-reports of depressive symptoms with family reports of depressive symptoms for the same individual., Results: As predicted, we found that compared with men, women were more likely to be reported as depressed by a family member when they report themselves as not depressed. We also found that family members were more likely to attribute depressive symptoms of females to internal causes. We did not, however, find any differences by gender in attribution of depression to external causes., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that gender bias within the family may contribute to the higher recorded rates of depression in women.

In the first part of this article, a wide range of research is drawn upon to describe the process by which aging stereotypes are internalized in younger individuals and then become self-stereotypes when individuals reach old age. The second part consists of a review of the author's cross-cultural, experimental, and longitudinal research that examines the cognitive and physical effects of aging self-stereotypes. The final section presents suggestions for future research relating to aging self-stereotypes.

This research found that older individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging, measured up to 23 years earlier, lived 7.5 years longer than those with less positive self-perceptions of aging. This advantage remained after age, gender, socioeconomic status, loneliness, and functional health were included as covariates. It was also found that this effect is partially mediated by will to live. The sample consisted of 660 individuals aged 50 and older who participated in a community-based survey, the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR). By matching the OLSAR to mortality data recently obtained from the National Death Index, the authors were able to conduct survival analyses. The findings suggest that the self-perceptions of stigmatized groups can influence longevity.

We examined whether aging self-stereotypes, or older individuals' beliefs about elderly people, can influence cardiovascular function. Older individuals were subliminally exposed to either positive or negative aging stereotypes. Then all participants faced mathematical and verbal challenges. Those exposed to the negative aging stereotypes demonstrated a heightened cardiovascular response to stress, measured by systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate, compared with those exposed to positive aging stereotypes. The aging stereotypes appeared to influence the outcome variable of skin conductance in the same way. It appears that the negative aging stereotypes acted as direct stressors, whereas the positive aging stereotypes reduced cardiovascular stress. These findings indicate that negative aging stereotypes may contribute to adverse health outcomes in elderly persons without their awareness. The results also suggest that positive aging stereotypes could be used in interventions to reduce cardiovascular stress.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that age-associated changes in physical function, particularly walking performance, are influenced by ageism and that the activation of positive sterotypes of aging can partially reverse these changes., Design: Randomized intervention study., Setting: General community., Participants: Forty-seven community-dwelling men and women (63-82 years old) who walked independently and described themselves as healthy., Intervention: Thirty-minute exposure to the subconscious reinforcement of either a positive or negative stereotype of aging while subjects played a computer game., Measurements: Pre- and postintervention measures of gait speed and percent swing time (the time spent with one foot in the air during walking). Health and psychosocial status were also evaluated., Results: Significant increases in walking speed (9%+/-2%; P < .001) and percent swing time (percent change: 1.1%+/-0.4%; P = .023) were observed in subjects who received reinforcement of positive stereotypes of aging. Gait speed and swing time did not change in those who received reinforcement of negative stereotypes of aging. The observed improvements in gait were related to the positive intervention, but were not related to age, gender, health status, or psychosocial status., Conclusions: Stereotypes of aging apparently have a powerful impact on the gait of older persons. Interventions designed to enhance perceptions of old age may prove beneficial in helping to improve gait and functional independence among older persons. In the future, positive changes in society's view of aging may also help to reduce and prevent age-related declines in function and the associated deleterious consequences.

Japanese scholars have reported that the Japanese people tend to maintain highly developed outer and inner selves. This study examines how these selves impact on aging. We hypothesized that the Japanese elderly would express more negative attitudes toward old people in general but more positive self-concepts than elders in China and the United States. The results supported this predicted pattern. They suggest an unusual dynamic of aging and self-identity in Japan that can shed light on the role of the self in accepting or rejecting societal stereotypes about aging.

With the continued decline in the number of U.S. medical graduates entering psychiatry residencies and the possibility of a decrease in the number of funded psychiatry training positions in the near future, this study aimed to update our understanding of why applicants choose a residency program. For 5 years (1989-1993), all applicants interviewed for postgraduate year-1 psychiatry positions at Long Island Jewish Medical Center/Hillside Hospital were asked to rank factors that influenced their program choice. The factors that were rated as most important, in declining order, were location (67.9%), reputation (46.2%), integration with a medical school (35.9%), resident satisfaction (33.2%), and quality of faculty (33.2%).