Abstract
Attitudes towards aging are often negative, a phenomenon known as ageism. However, personal contact with older adults and intergenerational exchange in the context of close families may mitigate such negative tendencies. So far, these effects have been studied in Western and industrialized contexts. The present study extended this work to the Cook Islands archipelago, a group of islands in the South Pacific characterized by low levels of industrialization and relative isolation from foreign influences. We tested the hypothesis that attitudes toward aging in the Cook Islands would be more positive than in the world at large, and that, within the archipelago, attitudes towards aging would be more positive in smaller, less industrialized communities with closer family ties. Participants (n = 70), were recruited from three islands varying in community size and strength of the family ties among inhabitants. They rated their aging attitudes on four dimensions. Contrary to our hypotheses, attitudes in the Cook Islands did not differ from those reported in industrialized nations and did not vary significantly across islands, even after controlling for personal contact to older adults. Potential limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
Highlights
Human population aging was first recognized as a serious demographic challenge over sixty years ago [1, 2], but it was primarily discussed as a problem of industrialized countries
The present study extended this work to the Cook Islands archipelago, a group of islands in the South Pacific characterized by low levels of industrialization and relative isolation from foreign influences
We performed both cross-cultural comparisons, testing the hypothesis that attitudes toward aging in the Cook Islands would be more positive than in industrialized countries around the world and within-culture comparisons, testing the hypothesis that—within the archipelago—attitudes towards aging would be more positive in smaller, less industrialized communities characterized by closer family ties, greater personal acquaintance with older adults, and lower exposure to mainstream media
Summary
Human population aging was first recognized as a serious demographic challenge over sixty years ago [1, 2], but it was primarily discussed as a problem of industrialized countries. Members of small communities usually know each other, and–according to the contact hypothesis—this personal contact may mitigate negative age stereotypes Such effects have mostly been studied in Western and industrialized contexts (for a meta-analysis see North, Fiske [23]) with only a few studies comparing traditional and industrialized societies (e.g., [22]). We gathered data from three islands varying in community size, contact to the outside world, and exposure to mainstream media We performed both cross-cultural comparisons, testing the hypothesis that attitudes toward aging in the Cook Islands would be more positive than in industrialized countries around the world and within-culture comparisons, testing the hypothesis that—within the archipelago—attitudes towards aging would be more positive in smaller, less industrialized communities characterized by closer family ties, greater personal acquaintance with older adults, and lower exposure to mainstream media. Following prior research (e.g., [23, 26]) the latter analyses controlled for contact to older adults
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