Negative stereotypes toward aging in old people from Latin America

Abstract

Introduction: The objectives of the study are focused on investigating the presence of old age stereotypes in ten countries of Latin America. In addition, the level of stereotypes among the studied countries, as well as the influence of social demographic variables in the formation of stereotypes, were investigated. Methodology: a cross-sectional descriptive study of seniors with ages between 60 and 70 (N: 965) from ten countries of Latin America was performed. The relevant information for the study was obtained using the old age negative stereotypes survey (in Spanish CENVE). After that, the possible associations between the social demographic variables and the CENVE factors were investigated through the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results show that there are negative stereotypes toward aging in older people being lower in the presence of this motivational factor. Furthermore, a significant correlation between the variables “occupation" and "education" was observed, and significant differences of the negative stereotypes between the countries of this study were confirmed. Conclusion: Old age negative stereotypes in seniors mainly from countries with important differences in health, educational and economic conditions were identified. The educational level as well as the socioeconomic status influence the development of old age negative stereotypes.