Fiorini Bincoletto Alice, Zanini Ludovica, Spitoni Grazia Fernanda, Lingiardi Vittorio
Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome.
Res Psychother. 2023 Jul 27;26(2):676. doi: 10.4081/ripppo.2023.676.
Ageism is a social issue of growing concern; ageist beliefs can shape the individual and collective experience of aging. The present study aimed to explore positive and negative ageism in young adults (YA) (18-30 years) and adults (AD) (31-60 years) and their relationship with epistemic trust, psychological distress, and psychological well-being. 301 Italian adult participants completed an online survey that included the following self-report questionnaires: attitudes towards older people scale, epistemic trust, mistrust and credulity questionnaire, depression anxiety stress scale-21, and Warwick-Edinburgh mental wellbeing scale. Negative ageism was significantly higher in YA compared to AD; on the contrary, AD presented more positive ageism than YA. When considering the entire sample, negative ageism was correlated with various dimensions of psychological distress and epistemic trust. A mediation model revealed that epistemic mistrust fully mediated the relationship between age and negative ageism, suggesting that changes in ageist beliefs that seem to occur with age are mediated by a mistrustful epistemic stance. Future research should focus on further exploring the link between epistemic trust, mental health, and holding ageist beliefs. The results are also discussed in terms of their implications for the treatment of older patients.
年龄歧视是一个日益受到关注的社会问题；年龄歧视观念会塑造个体和集体的衰老体验。本研究旨在探讨年轻人（18 - 30岁）和成年人（31 - 60岁）中的积极和消极年龄歧视，以及它们与认知信任、心理困扰和心理健康的关系。301名意大利成年参与者完成了一项在线调查，该调查包括以下自我报告问卷：对老年人态度量表、认知信任、不信任和轻信问卷、抑郁焦虑压力量表 - 21以及沃里克 - 爱丁堡心理健康量表。与成年人相比，年轻人中的消极年龄歧视显著更高；相反，成年人表现出比年轻人更多的积极年龄歧视。在考虑整个样本时，消极年龄歧视与心理困扰和认知信任的各个维度相关。一个中介模型表明，认知不信任完全中介了年龄与消极年龄歧视之间的关系，这表明随着年龄增长似乎发生的年龄歧视观念变化是由不信任的认知立场介导的。未来的研究应专注于进一步探索认知信任、心理健康与持有年龄歧视观念之间的联系。研究结果还从其对老年患者治疗的影响方面进行了讨论。
