Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
PLoS One. 2023 Aug 2;18(8):e0288589. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288589. eCollection 2023.
We examine the relationship between people's personal values and their attitudes toward older adults. In addition to the two conventionally-used measures of personal values (agency subdimension and communion subdimension), we distinguish across 10 different value types and explore how each impacts attitude.
We use data from the World Values Survey for three aging Asian societies, namely Japan (N = 2448), Singapore (N = 1972), and Hong Kong PRC (N = 1000). For each sample, we perform regression-based analyses to assess the relative importance of the 10 value types in explaining people's attitudes towards older adults. Results are then compared against regressions based on the two aggregate value measures.
In all three economies, the agency subdimension was a more consistent predictor of unfavorable attitudes toward older adults, as compared to the communion subdimension. Our disaggregated analysis reveals two additional insights. First, the positive association between agentic values and attitudes was driven predominantly by the power (wealth) and stimulation (excitement) value types. Second, the lack of association between the communion subdimension and attitudes must be interpreted with caution since certain value types within this subdimension may act in opposite directions causing effects to cancel each other out at the aggregate level.
Disaggregating personal value types provides greater prognostic power than the two aggregate measures, as well as insights on ways to improve people's attitudes toward older adults. Interventions aimed at reducing ageist attitudes in aging societies can target individuals with agentic traits by emphasizing notions of power (e.g., older adults' economic success) and stimulation (e.g., positive images of older adults learning new things).
我们考察了人们的个人价值观与他们对老年人态度之间的关系。除了通常使用的两种个人价值观衡量标准（能动性亚维度和交往亚维度），我们还区分了 10 种不同的价值观类型，并探讨了每种价值观类型如何影响态度。
我们使用来自世界价值观调查的三个亚洲老龄化社会的数据，即日本（N=2448）、新加坡（N=1972）和中国香港（N=1000）。对于每个样本，我们进行基于回归的分析，以评估 10 种价值观类型在解释人们对老年人态度方面的相对重要性。然后将结果与基于两种综合价值观衡量标准的回归进行比较。
在所有三个经济体中，与交往亚维度相比，能动性亚维度是预测对老年人不利态度的更一致的因素。我们的细分分析揭示了另外两个见解。首先，能动性价值观与态度之间的正相关主要是由权力（财富）和刺激（兴奋）价值观类型驱动的。其次，交往亚维度与态度之间缺乏关联必须谨慎解释，因为该亚维度内的某些价值观类型可能会朝相反的方向作用，从而导致在综合层面上相互抵消。
细分个人价值观类型提供了比两种综合衡量标准更大的预测能力，以及改善人们对老年人态度的见解。旨在减少老龄化社会中年龄歧视态度的干预措施可以通过强调权力（例如，老年人的经济成功）和刺激（例如，老年人学习新事物的积极形象）等观念来针对具有能动性特质的个体。
