Ageism: discrimination

Ageism (noun) Prejudice or discrimination against a particular age -group and radically the elderly.

-Is discriminatory behavior towards an employee in the workplace or hiree's that is between the ages of 40 and up.  

Number of seniors expected to double To the extent that ageism persists, there will soon be many more potential targets. The number of Americans 65 and older is projected to double over the next three decades from 35.9 million to nearly 70 million, comprising 20 percent of the population in 2030 compared to less than 13 percent now.The 85-and-over population is the fastest growing segment — projected to grow from 4 million in 2000 to 19 million in 2050 as part of an unprecedented surge in longevity. Americans now turning 65 will live, on average, an additional 18 years.

    Some researchers believe that ageism, in the form of negative stereotypes, directly affects longevity. In a study published by the American Psychological Association, Yale School of Public Health professor Becca Levy and her colleagues concluded that old people with positive perceptions of aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those with negative images of growing older.Levy said many Americans start developing stereotypes about the elderly during childhood, reinforce them throughout adulthood, and enter old age with attitudes toward their own age group as unfavorable as younger people’s attitudes.

How and where does Ageism occur?

1). In the workplace employment

2). Nursing homes

3).pension -plan

4). Advertisement

It’s a bias some also see in substandard conditions at nursing homes, in pension-plan cutbacks by employers, in the relative invisibility of the elderly on television shows and in advertisements.