Americans Harbor Much More Negative Explicit Sentiments Toward Younger Than Older Adults

Authors:

Abstract: Older adults are often assumed to bear the brunt of age-based prejudice. Challenging this assumption, two samples representative of the U.S. adult population (Ntotal = 1,820) consistently reported the most negative explicit sentiments toward younger adults, and the most positive ones toward older adults. Signaling derogation of young adults more than benign liking of older adults, participants high on SDO expressed even more negative explicit sentiments toward younger adults, and even more positive ones toward older adults. In two follow-up studies, lay people (N = 500) were quite accurate at forecasting these results, but social scientists (N = 241) were not, especially ageism experts. In a rapidly aging world, younger adults face mounting economic, social, political, and ecological challenges. Our findings emphasize the necessity for policymakers and social scientists to expand their view of age bias and formulate theories and policies to address discrimination targeting all age groups.

Track: DEI

Keywords: Intergenerational conflict, Ageism, Forecasting accuracy