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Ageism, Sex, and Age: A Factorial Survey Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Paul M. Baker
Paul M. Baker
Affiliation:
University of Victoria
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Abstract

In the field of social gerontology, some evidence exists to support Cowgill's theory that modernization leads to a decline in the status of the old. However, all of the evidence to date consists of objective indices of status such as education or income. The study reported here uses the factorial survey approach to directly measure the perceived status of various ages, and of both males and females. The results indicate that there is in fact an inverted U-curve of status across the life span, and that the perceived status of females is lower than that of males in the midlife period.

There were a few minor variations in the status ratings due to sex, age, and the type of question asked. Females rated middle aged males slightly higher in status that did males, and older respondents rated the very young and the very old higher than did younger respondents. The most significant factor affecting the status ratings was age, but since the oldest respondent was only 35, this study must be replicated with older samples.

Résumé

Dans le domaine de la gérontologie sociale, certaines indications tendent à confirmer la thèse de Cogwill à l'effet que la modernisation entraîne un abaissement du rang social des vieillards. Toutes ces indications reposent cependant sur des indices objectifs tels que le degré d'instruction et le revenu personnel. La présente étude aborde la question à partir d'une enquête factorielle destinée à mesurer directement la perception du rang social chez les groupes d'âges divers ainsi que chez les hommes et les femmes. Les résultats indiquent que le reng social au cours de la vie suit en effet une courbe en U invertie, et que le rang social attribué aux femmes est inférieur à celui des hommes au cours de l'âge mûr.

On voit cependant apparaître de légères variations liées au sexe, à l'âge et au genre de questions possées. Les femmes attribuent aux hommes mûrs un rang légèrement plus élevé que ne le font les hommes eux-mêmes, et les répondants âgés attribuent aux très jeunes et aux grands vieillards un rang plus élevé que ne le font les répondants jeunes. L'âge constitue le facteur de variation le plus significatif mais, étant donné que le répondant le plus vieux n'avait que 35 ans, il convient de refaire l'enquête en interrogeant des répondants plus âgés.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , December 1983 , pp. 177 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1983

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References

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