The interaction between aging and death anxieties predicts ageism

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Ageism Aging anxiety Death anxiety Older adults Stereotypes Stigma While aging anxiety is associated with the threat of deterioration that leads to death, death anxiety is related to the threat of non-existence and to fears from an unknown afterlife, and both anxieties can lead to ageism. The current study examined the unexplored relationship between these two existential anxieties and ageism. Measures of aging and death anxieties, ageism (in the form of ageist attitudes), and various measures of physical health were collected from 1073 older adults at the age range of 50–86. When death anxiety was low, aging anxiety was positively related to ageism, but when aging anxiety was low, death anxiety was positively related to ageism. The interaction between both anxieties and ageism remained significant after controlling for a myriad of background characteristics and physical health measures. These findings, which point at the distinctive and complementary roles that both anxieties have in connecting between one another and ageist attitudes, are discussed in light of theories on ageism. The scientific examination of negative attitudes toward old age has mainly focused on several possible paths. Primarily, such attitudes may be measured as stereotypes and prejudice against older adults due to their advanced age, a phenomenon which is defined as ageism (Butler, 2009). However, on an intra-personal level, these attitudes may be manifested through the individual's own anxieties about growing old, which may be triggered by the aging process (Yan, Silverstein, & Wilber, 2011), or perhaps by anxieties regarding the ultimate result of the aging process, namely, death anxiety (Benton, Christopher, & Walter, 2007). While ageism is concerned with the perception of older adults as a group, the innate qualities of both aging and death anxieties are closely associated each with the other (Benton et al., 2007). However , the two are also differentiated, as aging anxiety concerns fears regarding the continual process of aging, rather than with the termination of this process. To the best of our knowledge, the connections between the three concepts have not been explored, and therefore, the current study examines the relationships between aging anxiety, death anxiety and ageism among older adults. While most studies which focus on ageism examine this effect among younger cohorts, ageism was also found among older adults (see Bodner, Bergman, & Cohen-Fridel, 2012), and in such cases, is termed " self-ageism …