Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015

Given the long history of age-related stereotypes ascribed to late career workers, it is important to understand whether stereotypic beliefs about older workers have eroded over time. The continued proliferation of older workers has provided ample opportunity for capability and performance realities...

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Main Authors: Petery, Gretchen, Barnes-Farrell, J.
Format: Conference Paper
Published: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69703
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author Petery, Gretchen
Barnes-Farrell, J.
author_facet Petery, Gretchen
Barnes-Farrell, J.
author_sort Petery, Gretchen
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Given the long history of age-related stereotypes ascribed to late career workers, it is important to understand whether stereotypic beliefs about older workers have eroded over time. The continued proliferation of older workers has provided ample opportunity for capability and performance realities to weaken those stereotypes. Nonetheless, beliefs and attitudes about older workers that align more closely with age stereotypes may persist among those with limited interaction with older adults in an employment context. Data from two separate, but similar, groups of university students, collected 26 years apart, were used to test the endurance of 15 older worker stereotypes. Overall, the more recent sample expressed less positive beliefs about members of the target group. However, the variability in those responses was greater, indicating some degradation in stereotypic beliefs. Furthermore, in both groups recent positive work experience with older workers was associated with more positive attitudes towards older workers in general.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-697032018-11-28T08:14:48Z Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015 Petery, Gretchen Barnes-Farrell, J. Given the long history of age-related stereotypes ascribed to late career workers, it is important to understand whether stereotypic beliefs about older workers have eroded over time. The continued proliferation of older workers has provided ample opportunity for capability and performance realities to weaken those stereotypes. Nonetheless, beliefs and attitudes about older workers that align more closely with age stereotypes may persist among those with limited interaction with older adults in an employment context. Data from two separate, but similar, groups of university students, collected 26 years apart, were used to test the endurance of 15 older worker stereotypes. Overall, the more recent sample expressed less positive beliefs about members of the target group. However, the variability in those responses was greater, indicating some degradation in stereotypic beliefs. Furthermore, in both groups recent positive work experience with older workers was associated with more positive attitudes towards older workers in general. 2016 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69703 10.1093/geront/gnw162.469 OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC restricted
spellingShingle Petery, Gretchen
Barnes-Farrell, J.
Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015
title Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015
title_full Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015
title_fullStr Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015
title_full_unstemmed Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015
title_short Same as it ever was: Comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015
title_sort same as it ever was: comparing young adults' age bias toward older workers from 1989 and 2015
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69703