An Exploration of Factors Associated With Ageist Stereotype Threat in a Medical Setting.

OBJECTIVES

Experiencing stereotype threat in a medical setting may be triggered by routine clinical activities, and may be detrimental to healthcare processes and outcomes. This study estimated the prevalence of, and identified factors associated with, reporting ageist stereotype threat in a medical setting using a nationally representative dataset.

METHODS

Participants were community-dwelling adults aged 50 and older who had visited the doctor at least once in the past 2 years (n = 1,662). We analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study using multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS

8.31% of participants felt worry or fear that they were judged by medical staff because of their age. Previous experiences of age discrimination (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.47, p < .01), poorer self-perceptions of aging (AOR = 1.34, p < .05), and having greater control over one's health (AOR = 0.84, p < .05) were associated with reporting stereotype threat because of age.

DISCUSSION

Future research should investigate if measures to reduce age discrimination and to improve self-perceptions of aging and individual control over health protect against experiencing ageist stereotype threat in healthcare settings.