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. 2023 Dec 20;9(1):1.
doi: 10.3390/geriatrics9010001.

Mitigating the Harmful Impact of Ageism among Older Individuals: The Buffering Role of Resilience Factors

Lotte P Brinkhof  1   2   3 , Sanne de Wit  1   2   3 , Jaap M J Murre  1   2   3 , K Richard Ridderinkhof  1   2   3
Affiliations

Mitigating the Harmful Impact of Ageism among Older Individuals: The Buffering Role of Resilience Factors

Lotte P Brinkhof et al. Geriatrics (Basel). .

Abstract

Frequent exposure to ageism has significant repercussions on the quality of life and mental well-being/health of older adults. Resilience may play a crucial role in mitigating these effects. The current study aimed to investigate the potential buffering roles of two types of coping variables-behavioral coping and a positive appraisal style-in older adults (N = 2000, aged 55-93). Confirming previous findings, higher levels of perceived negative ageism (PNA) were associated with diminished quality of life and mental well-being, increased depression and loneliness. However, individuals that tend to employ behavioral coping strategies when confronted with challenging/stressful situations showed a weaker relationship between PNA and quality of life, mental well-being, and depression. Embracing a positive appraisal style attenuated the negative impact of PNA on feelings of depression and loneliness. Interestingly, younger older adults appeared to benefit the most from these resilience factors. Despite considerable inter-individual variability, encouraging the utilization of behavioral coping strategies and nurturing a positive appraisal style could serve as effective approaches to mitigate the detrimental effects of PNA.

Keywords: mental health; perceived negative ageism; resilience; successful aging.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of the tested moderation models of perceived negative ageism. Note: For each outcome variable of interest (blue), a total of two moderation models were adopted to evaluate the buffering role of each of the two resilience factors of interest (yellow) separately. Path a: the moderating role of age in the relationship between PNA and each outcome variable. Path b: the buffering role of the resilience factors in the relationship between PNA and the outcome variables. Path c: the moderating role of age in the buffering effect of the resilience factors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Results of moderation models of perceived negative ageism. Note: the effects reported for emotional and social loneliness correspond to an exploratory analysis and are shown with dashed lines.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Simple slopes of three-way interaction models. Note: Illustrated patterns should be interpreted with caution as we observed a relatively large proportion of failed moderations and/or two-way interactions in our bootstrapping analysis. * p < 0.05 and *** p < 0.001. The p-values of the simple slopes are Bonferroni-corrected.
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