The perception and the discriminatory behavior against the elderly: age-group difference

Chung, Soondool, Park, HyunJu, Sung Min-Hyeon, Kim Yesol(Ewha Womans University)

Presenter: Jessica

Contents

Introduction

Research Findings

Conclusion

Research Method

Introduction: introduce an ageism to notice

Background

-Rapidly increasing population of older people in Korea. -Widespread discrimination toward older people and unawareness-Relatively recent attention to ageism

What is ageism?

-Ageism is discrimination against older people based on the age

-Be linked to social justice, human right and structural discrimination of society

-Has effects on the individual life of older people

-Be connected with social isolation, loneliness, suicide, depression and loss of role identity of the elderly

-Makes the elderly neglected, exploited and abused.

Introduction cont.

Discriminatory behavior vs. Perception

-Need to distinguish ‘the actual behavior’ from the attitude toward the elderly. (behavior ≠ perception)

-Attitude toward the elderly = Discriminatory behavior ( the external expression of ageism) + Perception (Cognitive aspects)

-Less attention to behavior than perception toward the elderly

-Relationship between perception and ageist behavior has not been investigated.

Age difference

-Many previous studies used the samples of younger and non-elderly generation

-Previous researches which focused on older generation examined self-reported discrimination ‘experience’ of themselves, not a ageist behavior of themselves

Introduction cont.

Purposes of this study

1)To examine what Korean adults actually have ageism represented by the perception toward the elderly and the discriminatory behavior against the elderly

2)To explore the association between the perception and discriminatory behavior

3)To observe age-group difference of the influence of the perception on the discriminatory behavior

4)To suggest the effective strategies for reducing discriminatory behavior

Research questions

To what extents is the ageism, represented by the perception and discrimination behavior prevalent in the Korean

society?

Is there age-group difference on the results?

What is the relationship between the perception toward the elderly and discriminatory behavior?

Research Method: participants and procedure

Total Participant

1,500

∙ Elderly

60 and over

295 people

∙Non-elderly

Over 20 and under 60

1205 people29

Quota Sampling

• quota has been done by proportion of the

population

• moderate representation to the

population

• stratified by region, sex, and age

Participants ProcedureSampling

∙ Participants had been gathered from 16 administrative districts in South Korea

∙ Survey took for a month from 21st of Jan to 28th of Feb in 2011

∙ Face to face interview

The knowledge

Research Method: Measurement

FAQ1(Facts on Aging Quiz part 1)

A) It measures the knowledge about ageing and the elderly

B) Yim, Kim &Kim(2002)

C) It includes 25 items on aging

D) Four dimensions

E) Scale 1= true, 0=false / don’t know

F) Higher score = more knowledge

The image

SDS(Semantic Differential

Scale)A) It rates the image of the elderly

B) Sanders, Montgomary, Pittman & Balkwell(1984)

C) Bipolar adjectives

D) 7-point scale

E) Two dimensions

F) The Cronbach’s alpha = 0.929

Perception

The prejudice

Physical psycholog

ical

Familial

Aspect

Social

aspectsAbility personality

The scale of prejudice

A) It measures the prejudice of four dimensions which mentioned below B) Won (2003)

C) 19 items with four dimensions

D) 4 point Likert scale

E) Cronbach’s alpha = 0.811

Personal

relation

Cultural

activity

Gender and

marriage

Ability

The discriminatory behavior

Research Method: measurement

∙ Won, Kim, Choi and Han (2006)

∙ it measures discriminatory behavior against the elderly

∙ 4-point Likert scale

∙ 13 items

∙ Two dimensions

∙ Cronbach’s alpha = 0.935

Exclusion and mistrust

disrespect

Data Analysis

The descriptive analysis

T-test Multiple group analysis

∙ Mean and standardized Deviation

∙ Frequency and percentages

∙ observation the level of the perception and ageist behavior

∙ Difference between elderlyand non-elderly group

∙ There were statistically significant dissimilarity in personal relations,

gender and marriage, and exclusion and mistrust

∙Structural equaltion modeling

∙ relationship between perceptionand discriminative bahavior

∙ Difference between non-elderly

and elderly group

PASW 18.0 (SPSS 18.0 + AMOS 18.0)

Descriptive analysis – Knowledge

Results

ResultsDescriptive analysis - Image

Score

ResultsDescriptive analysis - Prejudice

ResultsDescriptive analysis - Discriminatory behavior

Result

Image

knowledge Discriminatory Behavior

Prejudice

Elderly

Non- Elderly

-.135**

-.127*

-.083-.056

.014-.097**

.046.012

.084*

.220***

.529***

.161***

Conclusion

Improve knowledge

Improve knowledge can be potential way to reducing negative

attitude and ageist behavior for both groups

Internal change of attitudes

Older people behave as more ageist

against older people, therefore they

need to improve awareness to ageism and internal change of attitude

Importance of education Knowledge has a direct effect on the actual discriminatory behavior, it is emphasized on the importance of education for younger generation

Age-group difference

Age- group difference suggested the different approach toward non-

elderly and elderly to reduce ageism in the society.

Reduce ageism

THANK THANK YOUYOU