Youngism: The Content, Causes, and Consequences of Prejudices Toward Younger Adults

In examining tensions between younger and older adults, researchers have primarily focused on negative perceptions of the elderly. The present research theorizes that, contrary to ageism toward older adults, which revolves around fear and discomfort with the target’s life stage, youngism (i.e., ageism toward young adults) is primarily generationally focused, aiming at contemporary generations of young adults rather than young adults in general. Consistent with this theorizing, we find that today’s young adults are ascribed a mixed stereotype content (Study 1a and 1b), subject to harsher social judgments than both older age groups (Study 2) and former generations at the same age (Study 3), and victim of discriminatory behaviors (Study 4). By comprehensively documenting cognitive, emotional, and behavioral evidences of youngism, the present work shows not only that ageism can target all age groups, but also that the nature and content of ageism vary across the lifespan.