老年歧视的特点、机制与干预

目前在全球范围内普遍存在老年歧视和消极的老化态度。2~3岁的幼儿就已经具有了老化的消极刻板印象, 家庭、社会、媒体和图书资料是为人们提供消极老化态度的主要来源, 而缺少代际接触、缺乏对老化知识的了解是人们形成老年歧视的主要原因。老年歧视会影响个体的行为、自我老化接受度、心理健康状况、生活方式以及择业。了解老化知识信息、讨论老龄化问题, 以及与老年人直接接触等方法可以帮助人们改变老化消极刻板印象, 并且代际接触的质量比数量更重要。目前, 老年歧视的研究横向研究多, 纵向研究少; 特点描述、干预研究多, 机制研究较少; 研究方法多样, 测量工具不同, 导致研究结果不同, 各研究间难以进行比较, 如直接测量主观态度的老年歧视调查, 人们表现出更多的积极态度, 而采用间接方法测量时, 人们则表现出更多的消极态度。我国对老年歧视的研究有待进一步深入和扩展。

Characters,Mechanism,and Intervenes of Ageism

Ageism attitudes are prevalent all over the world. Children as young as two or three years old have been found to have negative stereotypes of ageing. Family, social influences, media sources, and literature are the most primary agents in providing children with negative information and ideas about older adults. And lacks of intergenerational contact and ageing information are identified as primary reasons for people developing ageism. Ageism impacts individual behavior, acceptance of personal ageing, mental health, living style, and career choice. Discussing ageing, interacting with older adults directly, and acquiring knowledge about ageing are ways to change negative stereotypes of ageing. Quality but not quantity of intergenerational contact is more influential compared of the quantity of intergenerational contact. Researches on ageism have some limitations, such as more cross-sectional researches and less longitudinal researches, more researches on characters and intervenes and less on mechanism, diverse methods and instruments result in inconsistent findings, in directly subjective measures, participants tend to express more positive attitude, and indirect measures of ageism indicate more strongly negative views. The researches on Chinese ageism should be conducted thoroughly.