Applying for a Job? Your Age? Your Gender? ...

 A resume correspondence study on the basis of more than 40,000 job applications for four occupations (administrative jobs, sales, security jobs, janitor jobs) found "robust evidence of age discrimination in hiring against older women, especially those near retirement age, but considerably less evidence of age discrimination against men".

For the four occupations combined, callback rates were significantly lower when the applicants were perceived as older, i.e., by 18% for middle-aged workers and about 35% for older workers.

For administrative jobs, the callback rate was 14,4% for applicants aged 29 to 31, 10,3% for those aged 49 to 51 and 7,6% for applicants aged 64 to 66. 

For sales jobs, there was not really a difference between young and middle-aged applicantsn in terms of callback rate. However, the callback rate for older applicants was 30% lower. In addition, there was evidence of stronger age discrimination of female applicants. 

For security jobs too, there were more or less equal callback rates for middle-aged and older applicants. Again, both were lower than the callback rate for younger applicants. 

And, finally, for janitor jobs, the callback rate for older applicants was significantly lower than the rate for middle-aged or younger applicants (Neumark, Burn & Button, 2018).

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- Neumark, D., Burn, I. & Button, P. (2018). Is It Harder For Older Workers to Find Jobs? New and Improved Evidence from a Field Experiment. Journal of Political Economy, 127(2), link
- photograph by Flip Schulke via

Swimming upstream in a sea of ageism

"We all swim in a sea of isms. They emerge as humans develop and apply stereotypes as shortcuts to avoid engagement with our fear of difference. Once they are widely accepted, stereotypes tend to become exaggerated and widely understood as objective descriptions of the way life is and was always meant to be. As Gordon Allport noted, at this point stereotypes pose a situational threat to the groups they target."
Amanda Barusch

photograph by Robbie McIntosh via

Cultural Ageing Stereotypes in Europe

Abstract: A growing body of literature acknowledges the association between negative stereotypes and individual components of active aging, but very few studies have tested this association, at both individual and population levels. The Stereotypes Content Model (SCM) states that the cultural aging stereotyping of higher warmth than competence (called paternalistic or ambivalent prejudice) is universal. Our aims in this study are to test the extent to which the universality of this stereotype is confirmed in European Countries as well as how far "positive", "negative" or "ambivalent" views towards older people, and other negative attitudes such as prejudice and behaviours such as discrimination, predict active aging assessed both at individual and population levels. 

We have analyzed data from the European Social Survey-2008 (ESS-2008), containing SCM stereotypical and other appraisal items (such as direct prejudice and perceived discrimination) about adults aged over-70 from 29 European countries. First, SCM cultural stereotypes about older adults ("friendly", "competent", and "ambivalent") were calculated; secondly, after developing a typology of countries based on their "negative", "ambivalent" and "positive" views about older adults, the universality of cultural stereotypes was tested; thirdly, taking into consideration ESS data of those older persons (over 70s) who self-reported indicators of active aging (health, happiness, satisfaction and social participation), multilevel analyses were performed, taking our inter-individual measure of active aging as dependent variable and our stereotypical classification (positive/negative/ambivalent), direct prejudice and perceived discrimination as predictors; finally, relationships between stereotypical and appraisal items on older adults were examined at population level with country data from Active Aging Indexes. Our results show cultural stereotypes about older people (more friendly than competent) are widespread in most European countries, and negative cultural views of older adults are negatively associated with active aging both at individual and population level, supporting that negative cultural views of older adults could be considered as a threat to active aging. (Fernandez-Bellasteros et al., 2020)

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- Ferndandez-Bellasteros, R., Olmos, R., Perez-Ortiz, L. & Sanchez-Izquierdo, M. (2020). 

Cultural aging stereotypes in European Countries. Are they a risk to Active Aging? PLoS One, 15(5), link

- photograph by Vivian Maier via

The well-behaved, asexual, uncomplaining subject

"I recall being uneasy as a student when teacher after teacher explained that therapy was pointless or operation unnecessary because the patient was old, had had his time, could not expect miracles, and so on. Some moved the age of expendability far forward: at fifty five or sixty the genital system became expendable (“he or she won’t need it now”); at sixty-five further therapy was to be limited to encouragement. 

The image of later life was that of the well-behaved, asexual, uncomplaining subject, patiently awaiting the next world, to be kept as a pet if cheeringly vigorous, if not, to be jollied and avoided."

Alex Comfort, 1980 (1920-2000)

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photograph by Tony Ray-Jones via

There are consequences with age ...

"There are consequences with age, so you have to evolve. I've loved becoming a filmmaker. But I would love to continue modeling, and there isn't really any job for me. It's being marginalized - that's the sad part."

Isabella Rossellini"

photograph via

"It Made Me Feel Like a Person Again". Social Isolation and Meals on Wheels Social Connection Programmes

Abstract: Social isolation and loneliness are associated with negative health outcomes, and these outcomes are exacerbated among older adults who are homebound. To address this issue, Meals on Wheels programs increasingly provide social connection services to clients in addition to home-delivered meals. This descriptive qualitative study examines the impact of three types of social connection programs on the well-being of homebound older adult clients, as well as on the volunteers and staff members who deliver the programs. 

Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with 117 clients, volunteers, and staff in six Meals on Wheels social connection programs across the United States indicated that program participation was associated with substantial benefits. Benefits included the development of supportive friendships, reduced feelings of loneliness, and an improved overall sense of well-being. Insights from this study may inform the development, expansion, and sustainability of social connection programs provided by community-based organizations. (Gadbois et al., 2024)

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- Gadbois, E. A., Brazier, J. F., Turner, J., Hawes, C., Florence, L. C., Belazis, L. (20024). "It Made Me Feel Like a Peron Again": Benefits of Meals on Wheels-Based Social Connection Programs. Journal of Applied Gerontology, link

- photograph by Martin Parr via

Age Differences in Reactions to Ageist Memes

Abstract: Memes on social media can carry ageist messages and can elicit reactions that are both emotional and self-evaluative. The present study investigates age-related differences in nine discrete emotions and in the evaluation of when individuals have been or will be their best selves. Participants (n = 360) representing young (m = 26 years), middle-aged (m = 39 years) and older adults (m = 63 years) were randomly assigned to view either non-ageist (animals) or ageist (e.g., incompetent older people) memes. After viewing memes, we assessed nine emotional reactions (i.e., fear, anger, sadness, happiness, anxiety, discomfort, disgust, surprise, enjoyment) and Best Self evaluations. 

Younger and middle-aged people reported more intense emotional reactions to memes than older people, with the exception that older people reported more discomfort and disgust in response to ageist versus non-ageist memes. Younger adults were less surprised by ageist memes (vs. non-ageist) and for all age groups ageist memes (vs. non-ageist) elicited less happiness and enjoyment and were less likely to be shared. With respect to evaluations of one's Best Self, older individuals were more likely to report being their best selves in the past, while after viewing ageist memes, younger individuals were more likely to report being their best selves in the future. Emotions of disgust and discomfort were related to identifying one's Best Self as further in the past. The current study adds to the literature on the impact of ageism by examining age-related differences in the emotions and self-evaluations experienced when confronted with memes on social media. (Kahlbaugh et al., 2024)

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- Kahlbaugh, P., Ramos-Arvelo, J., Brenning, M. & Huffman, L. (2024).  Age differences in emotional reactions to ageist memes and changes in age of one's Best Self. Journal of Aging Studies, link

- photograph by Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) via

Age Limits for Blood Donation

The World Health Organization suggests the ideal donor be aged 18 to 65 (via). The American Association of Blood Banks used to bar peope aged over 65 (without written consent from a doctor) from donating blood. The rule was eliminated in 1978; now older people donate blood as long as they wish to and are well (via and via). In other words, healthy older people can - just like healthy younger people - "continue to safely donate and make a significant contribution to the blood supply past arbitrary age limits" (Goldman et al., 2019).

Back in 1996, Janetzko et al. examined blood donation in elderly donors and came to the conclusion that "blood donation in otherwise healthy persons aged over 65 years should be accepted". At the request of the UK Blood Services Forum, Stainsby and Butler (2008) prepared recommendations for the removal of the upper age limit based on an evaluation of available evidence of the safety of accepting blood donors beyond the age of 70. The authors concluded that "donors of whole blood and blood components can safely continue to donate beyond the age of 70, with no absolute upper age limit" if they meet the criteria needed.

In the past, there were concerns about the safety of blood donation for older donors, with upper age limits commonly applied. However, a recent comparative study using data from four countries and comparing deferral and vasovagal rates for whole-blood donation between donors aged 24-70 and 70+ concluded that age-based exclusions from donation based on safety concerns were not warranted [7]. At present, the upper age limit for blood donation differs among blood collection agencies (BCAs) worldwide. (Goldman et al., 2019)

The Bavarian Red Cross no longer has an upper age limit. Both those donating for the first time and those aged over 60 will be tested if they are suitable donators (via). The UK legislation on age limits for donors obliges regular donors to retire on reaching their 70th birthday and component donors on their 66th means discrimination. Stainsby and Butler (2008) point out that an arbitrary upper age limit is hard to justify. In fact, the National Blood Service received written complaints. Between April 2005 and March 2006, 107 complaints were received, including one from a Member of Parliament. The NHS does not accept any first-time donors over 66 and (since 1998) returning donors until they turn 70 but adds that one may continue after the age of 70 as long as one is in good health and has made at least one full donation in the past two years. On their website, the NHS points out that a review of date "suggests that it would be safe to allow older donors to continue past their seventieth birthday" (via). Still, in Italy you can only donate until the age 65 (via), in Japan until 69 (via). The Austrian Red Cross still has a general upper age limit of 70 and 60 for those donating for the first time (via). In the Netherelands, the upper age limit for blood donation was raised from 69 to 79 in 2018 (Quee et al., 2024).

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- Goldman, M., Germain, M., Grégoire, Y., Vassallo, R. (2019). Safety of blood donation by individuals over age 70 and their contribution to the blood supply in five developed countries: a BEST Collaborative group study: SAFETY OF DONATION, OLDER DONORS. Transfusion, 59(4)
- Janetzko, K., Böcher, R., Klotz, K. F., Kirchner, H. & Klüger, H. (1996). Blood donation after reaching 65 years of age. Beitr Infusionsther Transfusionsme, link
- Quee, F. A., Zeinali Lathori, A., Sijstsma, B., Brujns, S. & van den Hurk, K. (2024). Increasing the upper age limit for blood donation: Perspectives from older donors. Vox Sang., link to interesting abstract
- Stainsby, D. & Butler, M. (208). Recommendations for removal of the upper age limit for regular whole blood and component donors. 
- photograph (of Eggleston's grandmother Minnie Maude Mae at her home in Mississippi, 1970-1973) by William Eggleston via

Excluding Elderly People from Clinical Trials

The elderly make up "the lion's share of patients for certain health conditions" and the majority of patients for many conditions that need medications. At the same time, clinical trials in adult populations usually include patients ranging from the age of 18 to only 64. Due to the arbitrary upper age limits, elderly patients are often not represented in clinical trials resulting in little knowledge about their responses to medications. In fact, up to 35% of published trials exclude older people (Shency & Harugeri, 2015)

Although persons aged ≥65 years represent only about 13% of the population, they consume nearly one-third of all medications. (Shency & Harugeri, 2015)

Further research indicates that older adults carry 60% of the national disease burden but represent only 32% of patients in phase II and III clinical trials. (Herrera et al., 2010)

Age-related changes do have an impact on how an organism responds to pharmacological interventions. These changes can, for instance, be related to hepatic and renal functions (which affect e.g. the absorption and excretion of the drugs), the decrease of gastric acid secretion with ageing,, slowing of gastric emptying, diminished gastrointestinal blood flow, the decrease in albuin (which increases concentrations of many drugs), decrease in body water, increased sensitivity to antipsychotic drugs (due to an increase in monoamine oxidase activity), brain atrophy, reduction in cerebral blood flow, loss of cholinergic neurons (hence more sensitivity to drugs that have anticholinergic effects), impaired metabolism etc. (Shency & Harugeri, 2015).

Hence, age-dependent decrease in total clearance is expected for drugs that are eliminated by kidneys. The use of standard doses of these drugs may result in increased plasma concentration and increased risk of adverse drug reactions in elderly.

It has been found that the elderly are underrepresented in cancer clinical trials, more pronounced in trials for early-stage cancers than in trials for late-stage cancers.

In USA, though the elderly aged ≥65 years account for 61% of all new cancer cases and 70% of all cancer deaths, in the clinical trials active between 1993 and 1996, the elderly comprised only 25% of oncology trial participants.[11] A study audited 226 clinical research proposals recording exclusion of patients based on an arbitrary upper age limit and found that significant proportion (13.7%) of clinical trials excluded patients based arbitrarily on an upper age limit.[12] However, none (9.8%) of the trials submitted by geriatricians excluded patients based solely on age. The mean upper age limit used over all trials as a cut-off was 69.2 years. Over 50% trials submitted by neurology/psychiatry excluded patients based on an upper age limit.[12]

Although elderly patients represent the majority of the heart failure (HF) population, and have a worse prognosis compared to younger cohort commonly included in trials, targeted treatment strategies have been insufficiently developed for them. (...)

A 7 years review of elderly patients’ enrollment in cancer drug registrations by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) found statistically significant under-representation of the elderly.[16] (Shency & Harugeri, 2015)

Not only are older people underrepresented when it comes to cancer, cardiovascular disease or epilepsy but, most absurdly, clinical trial participation of older people is also ridiculously low in research on Alzheimer's disease, arthritis and incontinence (Herrera et al., 2010).

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- Herrera, A. P., Snipes, S. A., King, D. W., Torres-Vigil, I., goldberg, D. S. & Weinberg, A. D.  (2010). Disparate Inclusion of Older Adults in Clinical Trials: Priorities and Opportunities for Policy and Practice Change. American Journal of Public Health, 100(1), 105-112.
- Shency, P. & Harugeri, A. (2015). Elderly patients' participation in clinical trials. Perspectives in Clinical Research, 6(4), 184-189, link
- photograph by Diane Arbus via

Ambient Ageism. The Ageist Sound of AgeTech Advertisements

AgeTech companies market smart home technologies designed to help older adults stay in their homes and keep them safe. These companies usually market their products constructing ideas of age and using ageist representations of ageing and older adults. For instance, Vermeer et al. (2019:27) explored online marketing strategies for surveillance technology designed for people living with dementia living at home and for their care providers. The advertisements directed their messages at families and care providers, not to the people living with dementia dehumanising them as a "problem to be managed" and categorising them "in the same class as wallets, keys, young children, dogs, and/or prisoners".

One of the ideas promoted is that ageing in one's home with autonomy is an essential part of healthy ageing. "Marketing is designed to play on underlying fears that consumers have been socialised to associate with ageing, as well as on our underlying social values."

AgeTech marketing discourse has been critiqued for its ageist constructs of ageing and older age. Advertisements rely on associations between older age and illness, decline, frailty, and forgetfulness. These associations in turn inform the definition of “needs” and justify the use of stereotypical representations of older people on marketing platforms (Neven and Peine, 2017; Peine and Neven, 2021). The problem of ageism in the media has been called “visual ageism” by Loos and Ivan (2018), which refers to underrepresentation and misrepresentation of older adults in the media, and “new visual ageism,” which refers to the “obsessive representations of older people in looking unrealistically young” (Ivan et al., 2020, p. 10). Acknowledgement of this has led to a call to push back against visual ageism in digital media content. Indeed, Einsend (2022) noted that the inclusion of older people in advertising has not been given enough attention by academics, calling for more research in this area.

Visual ageism is not the only aspect of interest. The soundtrack of commercials is also regarded as an important means of communicating with viewers. Music is "a tool that impacts viewers' emotions, cognition, and interpretation of the brand's message", it can attract attention and set the mood in comercials. 

In her study, Graham (2022) collected data through an online search for AgeTech advertiseent videos for ageing-in-place technologies posted from 2015 to 2022. The author came to the conlcusion that visual and acoustic ageism work together ranging from negative stereotypical portrayals to overly positive ones. Here are some excerpts:

Negative stereotypes of older adults were common to the AgeTech advertiseents. The vision of the older adult woman in the Essence Care video most profoundly reflected the dystopian, fourth-age imaginary of dependence, impairment, and lack of agency, not only visually, but also acoustically. As discussed above, the background music set the scene for the viewer to perceive passivity, lethargy, and deterioration. The acoustic dimension of the negative fourth-age imaginary is characterised by slow-moving, descending and decaying musical lines that are simultaneously passive (un-agentic, in Gilleard and Higgs' terms), and ominous. Just as Neven and Peine (2017) state that the ageing-and-innovation discourse stigmatises older people as old, so, too, can the musical discourse of AgeTech advertisements.

The Essence Care ad portrays the older adult woman more negatively than the older adult man by focusing attention on her face in a “scene of empathy” (Tan et al., 2007) and her audible exhausted sigh. Together, these representations reinforce the association between ageing and decline. Interestingly, it has been noted that these overly negative portrayals of the much-dreaded fourth age alienate older adults from technology because they identify technologies as being for “old people,” a social category with which they do not identify. Thus, both visually and acoustically (which this paper highlights), barriers to technology engagement are created through negative portrayals of older adults.

Following the binary pattern of dystopian-utopian imagined futures, the Vayyar advertisement provides an example of a utopian, agentic, third-age future with smart home technology. The background music is carefree, uncomplicated, almost toy-like in its simplicity and ease, setting a scene of leisure and play. Craton and Lantos (2011) note that upbeat music can symbolise fun entertainment products in advertising soundtracks. Framing the technology as an “entertainment technology” may help to bypass the tensions associated with surveillance technology. The music sets the stage for the audience to perceive the older woman as an agentic, third-age consumer who adopts technology to make life more enjoyable and less onerous (Gilleard and Higgs, 2022). This fits with common stereotypes of the “Golden Ager,” the “Perfect Grandparent,” and “the Productive Golden Ager” who is portrayed as full of “zest” and living in intergenerational harmony (Ylänne, 2015, p. 371).

The subtle changes in the background music of the SofiHub advertisement are an example of how music reinforces the normalisation of surveillance technology. There is no dramatic “crisis” in this advertisement, but there is still a construction of a need that key routine behaviours (late to bed, late to rise, and long duration in the bathroom) require monitoring and reporting to care providers. The inclusion of the more energetic drum track primes the viewer to perceive the technology as supporting successful, active everyday life and watching out for any sign of decline. According to Van Leeuwen (1999), ascending melodic motion is associated with energy and brightness, suggesting that the inclusion of electric guitar slides provides a happy and hopeful ending to the advertisement, ensured by the use of technology. In this case, everyday life with technology is pictured as good—the older woman gardens safely, the older man maintains his privacy. Interestingly, the change to the music occurs when a younger adult woman successfully transfers from her wheelchair to her couch, accompanied by a well-timed shift in the music to a louder, more energetic mood through the addition of a drum track.

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- Graham, M. E. (2022). Ambient ageism: Exploring ageism in acoustic representations of older adults in AgeTech advertisements. Frontiers Sociol, link
- photograph (Foothill Acres Nursing Homes, Neshanic, New Jersey) via

Identity Politics and Vaccine Distribution

"For me, the most important and the most shocking was the way in which the United States rolled out vaccines in 2021. We had these amazing life-saving vaccines, but there were too few of them, so what were we going to do? Virtually every country in the world did it by age. But the key advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control, called ACIP, said that even though that course of action is much easier to implement, we're not going to do that. It would, they said, be unethical because a disproportionate number of older Americans are white. Even though, according to their own causal models, adopting a different rule would increase the number of deaths by between 0.5 and 6.5%, could lead to thousands more people dying, simply prioritizing older people would be the ethically wrong thing to do. 

Instead, they recommended putting essential workers, who supposedly are more diverse, first. A couple of things happened because of that. One is that it's really hard to communicate who's an essential worker. And immediately the politicking started about being included as essential workers: Film crews were essential workers. Finance executives were essential workers. I was an essential worker, as a college professor in Maryland, at a time when I was not allowed to teach classes in person…

Then what happened is that you had way too many people eligible for the vaccine at a time when there were barely any appointments. So who got the appointments? The people who were able to refresh the websites for hours a day, or who could write computer programs to find eligible spots, or who were able to drive hours out of town in order to get to some rural pharmacy that had more capacity for some reason. They were the ones to get it. In other words, more privileged people who were probably at slightly less risk of death. AI suspect that this policy even killed more non-white people, because if you give a vaccine to two 25-year-old black Uber drivers, rather than one 80-year-old black retiree, more black people are going to die.

So here's a policy that is a life or death question; is capable of inspiring just the worst kind of zero-sum racial competition in our politics; and can easily be exploited by the political right (...)"

Yasha Mounk

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- photograph by Dennis Feldman (1969-1972, Hollywood) via

- Yasha Mounk, full interview: link

What is driving ageism in everyday life?...

"I think there are a number of factors that are driving it. So they're both structural factors and individual factors. So the structural factors include age segregation. So in our country, we've gone from being one of the most age-integrated cultures/countries in the world to one of the most age-segregated cultures in the world. And we know that ageism can lead to the age segregation. And then, age segregation can, in turn, increase the ageism. 

We also know that there are a number of industries that profit from ageism and negative age stereotypes and negative age beliefs. So I had a professor who once said to me that when you want to try to understand what's happening in a society, you should look to see who profits. And we know that there are companies, such as in advertising, in social media and also in the anti-aging industry, which generate a trillion dollars together of profits in part by denigrating aging and creating a fear around aging. 

Which creates a desire, they believe, to go out and take on these products that actually battle aging or have this advertising campaign around aging as being something that we should fear and try to overcome, and it's something that's negative in our society. So those are some of the structural factors. 

And in terms of the individual factors, we know that there are aspects of how individuals take in age beliefs. So we know that children as young as age three take in the age beliefs of their culture. We know that then they're reinforced over time. And we also know that they can operate without our awareness. They can operate implicitly. So that's another way that ageism has increased and seems to be quite prevalent today."

Becca Levy

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photograph (New York, 1980s) by Steven Siegel via

Every second person in the world ...

"Every second person in the world is believed to hold ageist attitudes."

World Health Organization

photograph by Garry Winogrand via

Trends in Loneliness Among Older Adults from 2018-2023

In January 2023, the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging carried out a survey asking US-Americans aged fifty to eighty questions about loneliness. One in three adults (34%) reported feeling isolated from others, a greater proportion than the 27% in 2018. Among older adults the percentage was higher (37% compared to 34% in 2018). 

One in three older adults (33%) reported infrequent contact with people from outside their home (14% once a week, 10% every two to three weeks, 9% once a month or less). The feeling of isolation was much more common for those who reported fair or poor mental health (77% vs. 29% of those reporting good mental health). They were also more likely to report feeling a lack of companionship (73% of those with poor mental health vs 33% of those with better mental health). Lack of companionship was also more of an issue among people who were unemployed, lived alone or had an annual household income less than 60,000 dollars. Chronic loneliness can have a negative impact on mental and physical health, and on life expectancy (via).

- Malani P, Singer D, Kirch M, Solway E, Roberts S, Smith E, Hutchens L, Kullgren J. Trends in Loneliness Among Older Adults from 2018-2023. University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. March 2023. Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/7011
- photographs by Garry Winogrand via and via

The Hardest Day of the Year

2.3 million older people in the United Kingdom wish they had someone to spend time with at Christmas. For 1.6 million people, Christmas is the hardest day of the year. According to Age UK, 1.3 million people will feel lonely this Christmas (via).

photograph via

Age and Financial Abuse

While, in general, people of any age group can become victims of scamers, those over sixty are more vulnerable and people over 80 are extremely vulnerable. According to a study carried out in the United States in 2019, people aged 20 to 59 had lower median losses, people aged 70 to 79 suffered a median loss of 600 dollars and for people over 80, the median loss was 1,600 dollars. 

The scams most likely to be carried out are: online shopping scams (at least 14 million dollars lost), tech support scams (which stole 24 million dollars from victims over 60), imposter scams, romance scams (which hit a high of 304 million dollars in 2020; people ages 70plus have a median loss at 9,475 dollars), sweepstakes- and lottery-based scams (social media now accounts for one third of lottery scams) but also timeshare sale and resale scams (which conned over 30 million dollars total from people 60plus in 2019 alone), investments scams (25 million dollars) and health insurance scams (via).

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photograph by Fred Herzog via

Ageism in Marriage and Family Therapy

Abstract: The paucity of literature addressing mental health issues concerning geriatric populations represents the perpetuation of ageist practices and beliefs in the field of marriage and family therapy. The purpose of this study was to assess whether client age and clinical training relate to the evaluation of couples who present for conjoint therapy. Written vignettes describing two couples, one older and one younger, who report issues involving the absence of sexual intimacy, increased frequency of arguments, and increased use of alcohol were evaluated by practicing marriage and family therapists, therapists-in-training, and individuals with no clinical background. 

It was hypothesized that respondents' views would vary in connection with the age of the couple and with the three levels of participant training. Results indicate that client age and participant training are associated with perceptions of individual and couple functioning. Our findings suggest that the relational and mental health concerns experienced by elder couples are not perceived as seriously as are identical concerns experienced by younger couples. Contrary to our expectations the observed differences between views of the two age conditions did not significantly differ between levels of participant training. Training and experience in marriage and family therapy may not significantly mitigate vulnerability to age-discrepant views. (Ivey, Wieling & Harris, 2000)

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- Ivey, D. C., Wieling, E. & Harris, S. M. (2000). Save the Young - the Elderly Have Lived Their Lives: Ageism in Marriage and Family Therapy. Family Process, 39(2), 163-175.
- photograph by Gabriele and Helmuth Nothelfer via

Cutting All of Society's Traditional Classifications

"Ageism is distinct from all other forms of discrimination because it cuts all of society's traditional classifications: gender, race, religion and national origin."
Nuessel, 1982 (quoted in Kramer, 2003)

- Kramer, U. (2003). AGEISMUS - Zur sprachlichen Diskriminierung des Alters.
- photograph by Joel Meyerowitz via

Severely Impaired, Self-Centred, Elitist, John Wayne Conservative or Golden Ager? Negative and "Positive" Age Stereotypes

Hummert et al. (cited in Miller Leyell & Mazachek, 2002), using e.g. cluster analysis, found eight negative and six (rather) positive stereotypes of older people. Negative stereotypes are associated more with older old people, positive ones more with younger old people. The older the age, the more the associations become: mildly impaired, severely impaired, shrew/curmudgeon, despondent, recluse, vulnerable. The positive older person is not a burden but the supportive grandparent or volunteer. Older persons are more or less seen positively as long as they are productive and wealthy "golden agers". 

The eight negative stereotypes: 

1) despondent (afraid, bored, depressed, fragile, frustrated, hopeless, hypochondriac, lonely, neglected, sad, sick, tired, victimise, wary)
2) vulnerable (afraid, bored, emotionless, hypochondriac, miserly, sedentary, victimised, wary, worried)
3) severely impaired (dependent, feeble, forgetful, fragile, hopeless, inarticulate, incoherent, neglected, poor, rambling, sedentary, senile, sexless, sick, slowly thinking, tired, victimised)
4) shrew/curmudgeon (bitter, bored, complaining, demanding, frugal, greey, humourless, hypochondriac, ill-tempered, inflexible, jealous, nosy, prejudiced, selfish, snobbish, stubborn)
5) recluse (dependent, forgetful, frustrated, naive, poor, quiet, sedentary, timid, worried)
6) mildly impaired (dependent, forgetful, fragile, frustrated, poor, rambling, sedentary, sick, slowly moving, tired, victimised, worried)
7) self-centred (emotionless, greedy, humourless, inflexible, jealous, miserly, nosy, selfish, sexless, snobish, stubborn)
8) elitist (demanding, naive, prejudiced, snobbish, wary)

The six "positive" stereotypes: 

1) perfect grandparent (family-oriented, family-loving, generous, grateful, happy, healthy, intelligent, kind, knowledgeable, loving, self-accepting, supportive, trustworthy, understanding, wise)
2) golden ager (active, adventurous, alert, capable, courageous, curious, determined, fun-loving, future-oriented, happy, health conscious, healthy, independent, intelligent, interesting, knowledgeable, liberal, lively, political, productive, proud, sef-accepting, sexual, skilled, sociable, successful, volunteer, wealthy, well-informed, well-travelled, wise, witty)
3) John Wayne conservative (conservative, curious, determined, emotional, mellow, nostalgic, old-fashioned, patriotic, political, proud, religious, reminiscent, retired, tough, wealthy)
4) liberal matriarch/patriarch (frugal, liberal, mellow, old-fashioned, wealthy)
5) activist (frugal, liberal, mellow, old-fashioned, wealthy)
6) small-town neighbour (conservative, emotional, frugal, old-fashioned, quiet, tough)

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- Miller, D. W., Leyell, T. S. & Mazachek, J. (2002). Stereotypes of the Elderly in US Television Commercials From the 1950s to the 1990s. Journal of Advertising History, link
-  photograph by Leon Levinstein via

Feeling One's Underrepresentation in the Beauty Industry

"Mirror/Mirror: Survey of Women's Reflections of Beauty, Image and Media" is a survey conducted in 2019. It found that 64% of women aged 39 to 54 and 74% of women aged 55 to 73 feel that the beauty industry creates products not having people their age in mind and that they are underrepresented in beauty advertising. More than 70% of the women across both age groups state that they would be more likely to purchase from brands that are more inclusive in terms of age. 76% of women aged 22 to 38 agree with this statement (via).

photographs of Joan Crawford by Eve Arnold (1959) via