Ageism Linked to Culture, Not Demographics: Evidence From an 8-Billion-Word Corpus Across 20 Countries
Abstract Objectives Ageism has increased over 200 years and costs the U.S. health care system $63 billion a year. While scholars agree on the consequences of ageism, there are disagreements on whether it is related to the demographics of aging, or society’s cultural values. We test both hypotheses a...
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Veröffentlicht in: | The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2021-11, Vol.76 (9), p.1791-1798 |
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container_title | The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences |
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creator | Ng, Reuben Lim-Soh, Jeremy W |
description | Abstract
Objectives
Ageism has increased over 200 years and costs the U.S. health care system $63 billion a year. While scholars agree on the consequences of ageism, there are disagreements on whether it is related to the demographics of aging, or society’s cultural values. We test both hypotheses across 20 countries.
Method
To circumvent the sampling limitations of survey studies, we used an 8-billion-word corpus, identified 3 synonyms with the highest prevalence—aged, elderly, old people—and compiled the top 300 words (collocates) that were used most frequently with these synonyms for each of the 20 countries. The resulting 6,000 collocates were rated on an ageism scale by 2 raters to create an ageism score per country. Cultural dimension scores—Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-term Orientation—were taken from Hofstede, and demographics—size and speed of population aging—came from the World Development Indicators.
Results
Of the 20 countries, UK topped the ageism table, while Sri Lanka had the lowest ageism score. Multiple regression models showed that higher levels of masculinity and long-term orientation are associated with ageism, controlling for other cultural dimensions, demographics (size and speed of aging), and economics (GDP-per-capita).
Discussion
Our findings blunt the deterministic nature of ageism at the societal level. Demographics is only one side of the ageism coin, and the cultural side is equally, if not more important. This study lays the groundwork to tackle societal ageism—one of our generation’s most pernicious threats. |
doi_str_mv | 10.1093/geronb/gbaa181 |
format | Article |
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Objectives
Ageism has increased over 200 years and costs the U.S. health care system $63 billion a year. While scholars agree on the consequences of ageism, there are disagreements on whether it is related to the demographics of aging, or society’s cultural values. We test both hypotheses across 20 countries.
Method
To circumvent the sampling limitations of survey studies, we used an 8-billion-word corpus, identified 3 synonyms with the highest prevalence—aged, elderly, old people—and compiled the top 300 words (collocates) that were used most frequently with these synonyms for each of the 20 countries. The resulting 6,000 collocates were rated on an ageism scale by 2 raters to create an ageism score per country. Cultural dimension scores—Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-term Orientation—were taken from Hofstede, and demographics—size and speed of population aging—came from the World Development Indicators.
Results
Of the 20 countries, UK topped the ageism table, while Sri Lanka had the lowest ageism score. Multiple regression models showed that higher levels of masculinity and long-term orientation are associated with ageism, controlling for other cultural dimensions, demographics (size and speed of aging), and economics (GDP-per-capita).
Discussion
Our findings blunt the deterministic nature of ageism at the societal level. Demographics is only one side of the ageism coin, and the cultural side is equally, if not more important. This study lays the groundwork to tackle societal ageism—one of our generation’s most pernicious threats.</description><identifier>ISSN: 1079-5014</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1758-5368</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa181</identifier><identifier>PMID: 33099600</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>US: Oxford University Press</publisher><subject>THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Social Sciences</subject><ispartof>The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2021-11, Vol.76 (9), p.1791-1798</ispartof><rights>The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. 2020</rights><rights>The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. 2020</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c401t-2887fa17e4a9f4d4a86f423d5ae72e6aaaac667405a91e72fecee7028b5d9a183</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c401t-2887fa17e4a9f4d4a86f423d5ae72e6aaaac667405a91e72fecee7028b5d9a183</cites><orcidid>0000-0002-1186-0570 ; 0000-0003-4678-0009</orcidid></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><link.rule.ids>230,314,780,784,885,1584,27924,27925</link.rule.ids></links><search><contributor>Carr, Deborah S</contributor><creatorcontrib>Ng, Reuben</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Lim-Soh, Jeremy W</creatorcontrib><title>Ageism Linked to Culture, Not Demographics: Evidence From an 8-Billion-Word Corpus Across 20 Countries</title><title>The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences</title><description>Abstract
Objectives
Ageism has increased over 200 years and costs the U.S. health care system $63 billion a year. While scholars agree on the consequences of ageism, there are disagreements on whether it is related to the demographics of aging, or society’s cultural values. We test both hypotheses across 20 countries.
Method
To circumvent the sampling limitations of survey studies, we used an 8-billion-word corpus, identified 3 synonyms with the highest prevalence—aged, elderly, old people—and compiled the top 300 words (collocates) that were used most frequently with these synonyms for each of the 20 countries. The resulting 6,000 collocates were rated on an ageism scale by 2 raters to create an ageism score per country. Cultural dimension scores—Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-term Orientation—were taken from Hofstede, and demographics—size and speed of population aging—came from the World Development Indicators.
Results
Of the 20 countries, UK topped the ageism table, while Sri Lanka had the lowest ageism score. Multiple regression models showed that higher levels of masculinity and long-term orientation are associated with ageism, controlling for other cultural dimensions, demographics (size and speed of aging), and economics (GDP-per-capita).
Discussion
Our findings blunt the deterministic nature of ageism at the societal level. Demographics is only one side of the ageism coin, and the cultural side is equally, if not more important. This study lays the groundwork to tackle societal ageism—one of our generation’s most pernicious threats.</description><subject>THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Social Sciences</subject><issn>1079-5014</issn><issn>1758-5368</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2021</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>TOX</sourceid><recordid>eNqFUU1PwzAMjRCIjY8r5xxBolvSJk3KAWkMBkgTXEAco6x1S6BtStIi8e_J2ITECV9s2c_vyX4InVAyoSRLphU4266m1UprKukOGlPBZcSTVO6Gmogs4oSyETrw_o2EoILto1GSkCxLCRmjclaB8Q1emvYdCtxbPB_qfnBwjh9sj6-hsZXT3avJ_QW--TQFtDnghbMN1i2W0ZWpa2Pb6MW6As-t6waPZ7mz3uOYhMbQ9s6AP0J7pa49HG_zIXpe3DzN76Ll4-39fLaMckZoH8VSilJTAUxnJSuYlmnJ4qTgGkQMqQ6Rp6lghOuMhlYJOYAgsVzxIgsPSA7R5Ya3G1YNFDkEeV2rzplGuy9ltVF_J615VZX9VJJzIeM1wemWwNmPAXyvGuNzqGvdgh28ihlnjEiS8QCdbKA_5zoof2UoUWtz1MYctTUnLJxtFuzQ_Yf9Bll2kn4</recordid><startdate>20211101</startdate><enddate>20211101</enddate><creator>Ng, Reuben</creator><creator>Lim-Soh, Jeremy W</creator><general>Oxford University Press</general><scope>TOX</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>7X8</scope><scope>5PM</scope><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1186-0570</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4678-0009</orcidid></search><sort><creationdate>20211101</creationdate><title>Ageism Linked to Culture, Not Demographics: Evidence From an 8-Billion-Word Corpus Across 20 Countries</title><author>Ng, Reuben ; Lim-Soh, Jeremy W</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c401t-2887fa17e4a9f4d4a86f423d5ae72e6aaaac667405a91e72fecee7028b5d9a183</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2021</creationdate><topic>THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Social Sciences</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Ng, Reuben</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Lim-Soh, Jeremy W</creatorcontrib><collection>Access via Oxford University Press (Open Access Collection)</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>MEDLINE - Academic</collection><collection>PubMed Central (Full Participant titles)</collection><jtitle>The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Ng, Reuben</au><au>Lim-Soh, Jeremy W</au><au>Carr, Deborah S</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Ageism Linked to Culture, Not Demographics: Evidence From an 8-Billion-Word Corpus Across 20 Countries</atitle><jtitle>The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences</jtitle><date>2021-11-01</date><risdate>2021</risdate><volume>76</volume><issue>9</issue><spage>1791</spage><epage>1798</epage><pages>1791-1798</pages><issn>1079-5014</issn><eissn>1758-5368</eissn><abstract>Abstract
Objectives
Ageism has increased over 200 years and costs the U.S. health care system $63 billion a year. While scholars agree on the consequences of ageism, there are disagreements on whether it is related to the demographics of aging, or society’s cultural values. We test both hypotheses across 20 countries.
Method
To circumvent the sampling limitations of survey studies, we used an 8-billion-word corpus, identified 3 synonyms with the highest prevalence—aged, elderly, old people—and compiled the top 300 words (collocates) that were used most frequently with these synonyms for each of the 20 countries. The resulting 6,000 collocates were rated on an ageism scale by 2 raters to create an ageism score per country. Cultural dimension scores—Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-term Orientation—were taken from Hofstede, and demographics—size and speed of population aging—came from the World Development Indicators.
Results
Of the 20 countries, UK topped the ageism table, while Sri Lanka had the lowest ageism score. Multiple regression models showed that higher levels of masculinity and long-term orientation are associated with ageism, controlling for other cultural dimensions, demographics (size and speed of aging), and economics (GDP-per-capita).
Discussion
Our findings blunt the deterministic nature of ageism at the societal level. Demographics is only one side of the ageism coin, and the cultural side is equally, if not more important. This study lays the groundwork to tackle societal ageism—one of our generation’s most pernicious threats.</abstract><cop>US</cop><pub>Oxford University Press</pub><pmid>33099600</pmid><doi>10.1093/geronb/gbaa181</doi><tpages>8</tpages><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1186-0570</orcidid><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4678-0009</orcidid><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record> |
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source | Oxford University Press Journals All Titles (1996-Current); EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals; Alma/SFX Local Collection |
subjects | THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Social Sciences |
title | Ageism Linked to Culture, Not Demographics: Evidence From an 8-Billion-Word Corpus Across 20 Countries |
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