Access over 35 million academic & study documents

Ageism & People Health Paper

Content type
User Generated
Subject
Health & Medical
Type
Research Paper
Rating
Showing Page:
1/3
Ageism refers to the act of being discriminated against because of your age. It also
entails how older adults are represented in the media, which typically has a broader effect on the
public's opinions and attitudes. Ageism is depicted in our societies in many ways. For example,
when an older person loses his/her job because he/she is old. When an individual is rejected at a
member's club association or because of his/her age. As a result, age discrimination has some
detrimental impacts on both the mental and physical health of older adults in certain ways.
Firstly, older adults may become mentally ill because of being discriminated. According
to Park (2020), being perceived as a burden, useless or unwanted can make a person question the
essence of their existence. In this case, he/she may develop psychological conditions such as
depression, stress, and anxiety. Others may even have suicidal ideas as they develop less desire
to live, because of being prejudged.
Secondly, ageism can have some health implication which shortens the victim's life.
Longitudinal research done by Becca Levy, a psychologist, among 660 individuals of at least 50
years found that people with more positive self-insights of aging lived about 7.5 years longer
than their counterparts (Brown, Bryant , Brown , Bei, & Judd, 2016). It also causes other health
disorders such as high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, cardiovascular stress, etc. Lastly, age bias
can make elderly adults struggle with their prevailing health conditions. For example, due to
accelerated stress levels, individuals may experience a regular stroke, heart and asthma attacks,
and hypertension and diabetic episodes.
Luckily, the adverse impacts of ageism can be prevented if all generations understand the
concepts of aging. The idea is to counter the old-fashioned perceptions of older individuals as
burdens and embrace the broad diversity of old age experience. In this regard, certain actions can
be taken to tackle ageism. Firstly, there should be communication campaigns to upsurge

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Showing Page:
2/3
knowledge concerning aging to the general public, service providers, media, and lawmakers
(Park, 2020). Secondly, there should be physical and social support systems to help older people
find their purpose in life. The systems would ensure that the elderly population is fully involved
in community activities as other age groups.
Health care professionals have a significant role to play in an attempt to prevent ageism.
The professionals should be educated by incorporating aging as an essential component in their
studies to boost their awareness (Brown, Bryant , Brown , Bei, & Judd, 2016). They should
mainly be taught to mind their biases when handling older people. Most of them view older
people as set in their paths and incapable of transforming their behaviors. However, such people
need to positively perceived and acknowledged even by healthcare providers.
The media can also help to avert the harmful effects of ageism. The media is a
significant platform that portrays most stereotypes about aging. For example, it describes aging
with a deformity that pushes some older people to undergo cosmetic surgery to look younger and
beautiful (Wilinska & Mosberg, 2017). The media also perceive older people as incapable of
leading or managing companies, government ministries, government, etc. Additionally,
platforms like social media view elders as both physically and mentally ill, which is not always
the case. Therefore, to prevent ageism, the media needs to change its portrayal of the same.
Indeed, older people tend to feel more physically and mentally well if there are perceived
positively. Besides, the positive insight promotes a community that more mindful of needs and
value their participation. Everyone, including the media and healthcare providers, should ensure
that older people are not discriminated.

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Showing Page:
3/3

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Ageism refers to the act of being discriminated against because of your age. It also entails how older adults are represented in the media, which typically has a broader effect on the public's opinions and attitudes. Ageism is depicted in our societies in many ways. For example, when an older person loses his/her job because he/she is old. When an individual is rejected at a member's club association or because of his/her age. As a result, age discrimination has some detrimental impacts on both the mental and physical health of older adults in certain ways. Firstly, older adults may become mentally ill because of being discriminated. According to Park (2020), being perceived as a burden, useless or unwanted can make a person question the essence of their existence. In this case, he/she may develop psychological conditions such as depression, stress, and anxiety. Others may even have suic ...
Purchase document to see full attachment
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Anonymous
I was stuck on this subject and a friend recommended Studypool. I'm so glad I checked it out!

Studypool
4.7
Indeed
4.5
Sitejabber
4.4

Similar Documents