Ageism and body esteem: associations with psychological well-being among late middle-aged African American and European American women

Abstract

Objectives: Social expectancy theory posits that cultural values shape how individuals perceive and evaluate others, and this influences how others evaluate themselves. Based on this theory, ageism may shape older individuals' self-evaluations. Given the cultural focus on beauty and youth, perceptions of age discrimination may be associated with lower body esteem, and this may be associated with poor psychological well-being. Because discrimination has been associated with poor health, and perceptions of health can affect body perceptions, subjective health status may also contribute to lower body esteem.

Method: These associations are assessed in a structural equation model for 244 African American and European American women in their early 60s.

Results: Perceptions of age discrimination and body esteem were associated with lower psychological well-being for both ethnic groups. Body esteem partially mediated the association between age discrimination and psychological well-being among European American women but not among African American women.

Discussion: Age-related discrimination is one source of psychological distress for older adults, though ageism's associations with body esteem, health, and psychological well-being vary significantly for European American and African American women. Examining body perceptions and health in the contexts of ageism and ethnicity is necessary when considering the psychological well-being of older women.

Keywords: Age discrimination; Ageism; Body esteem; Ethnic differences; Psychological well-being; Subjective health..

Figure 1.

Proposed model combining perceptions of discrimination, body esteem, subjective health, and psychological well-being.

Figure 2.

Path coefficients and parcel factor loadings for the structural model. Note. *p < .05.

Figure 3.

Standardized betas illustrating the mediating effect of body esteem in the relationship between perceptions of age discrimination and psychological well-being. Note. The coefficient in parentheses represents the total effect of perceptions of age discrimination on psychological well-being with body esteem not included in the model as a mediator. Coefficients significantly different from zero are noted by asterisks (**p < .01. ***p < .001).