Age Identity, Stigma and Discrimination in Older Persons

Abstract

The researchers examined the relationship between age identity, stigma and
discrimination in 573 randomly selected older persons aged 65 years and more,
who live in families or in elder care homes. The samples were selected using multi-
stage cluster sampling procedure and interviews were conducted using standardised
rating scales. The linear regression analysis was used for testing hypotheses. Age
identity was found to be high among older women than in older men (t (571)=-3.961;
p<0.001). Age identity significantly predicted 34.5 percent of variance (R2=.0345) on
stigma and it predicted 45.2 percent of variance (R2=0.452) on discrimination. The
study concludes that age identity significantly increases stigma and discrimination in
older persons.