Gerontology Matrix

Myth or Stereotype

Common Issues

Fact or Reality

Attempts to Prevent or Eliminate

Cultural and Ethnic Perspectives

The elderly are all alike.

The common issues of stereotyping alikeness with aging is the individual can be discriminated or have prejudice attitudes toward them. Prejudice attitudes are negative feelings that someone can have toward a group and discrimination is the behavior toward a group. Prejudice can also include the beliefs of undesirable characteristics toward the aging. Discrimination can include not hiring someone because of their age or firing a person because they believe they are too old to perform job responsibilities. The negative stereotypes can also inhibit the elderly to be more active or participate in new activities (Carstensen & Hartel, 2006).

The elderly have significant differences within each individual. The health of one 65 year old can be different than another. The health of the elderly is not specifically related to their age (Cox, 2006). As we get older, the years become more unlikely that people will be more alike. People learn differently, people face different situations, and more importantly people can be considered old at 65 or young at 90. Everyone ages differently and at different rates. The older we get, the bigger the chance that you will be different than others (DHS, 2012). The perception that older Americans retire and live in seasonal homes are by far the truth because there are different classes of means, including for the elderly.

One way to dispel the stereotype that elderly are alike is to teach our society about cultural lag. Society has an image of aging; growing older is much different than the reality of it. An example is a grandmother and a four-year-old grandchild. We perceive grandmothers to be in their older years, such as 80 or so. In reality, an 80-year-old woman would doubtfully have a four-year-old grandchild. More than likely, a fifty-year-old woman would have a four-year-old grandchild. This is cultural lag. Society views grandmothers as in their older years, rather than in their middle ages (Losrios, 2015).

The aging population will quadruple by 2050 and adults 65 years and older will outnumber children by the age of five. Americans have a perception of the elderly. The views Americans have on the elderly is perceived as youthful and fear of growing old. Our cultural lifestyle preferences, values, and products reflect the youthful perception. Our cultural perception sees growing older as negative outputs, such as loneliness, sickness, and impotence. Even the media portrays negative outputs of aging, including magazines, newspapers, and television. Even joking comics about aging can be perceived as ageism (Losrios, 2015).