Ageism before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Both benevolent and hostile ageism can have deleterious effects on older adults. Given the explicit ageist messages in the media, we anticipated increases in both benevolent and hostile ageism in the context of COVID-19. Moreover, we predicted that age and initial COVID-related concerns would influence both initial levels and change over time in ageism, with younger adults and those who were more concerned about COVID-19 exhibiting higher levels of both types of ageism. Adults (N = 325, M-age = 39.7) were surveyed at 5 time points across the first 4 months of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. A series of growth curve analyses was conducted to examine individual differences in ageism and change over time for each type of ageism. We were able to detect individual differences in both benevolent and hostile ageism. Benevolent ageism and hostile ageism decreased over time. Although age and COVID-19 concerns were associated with initial levels of ageism, neither influenced the rate of change. Our results demonstrate that benevolent ageism and hostile ageism decreased over the first 4 months of the U.S. pandemic. As a dynamic situation, changes may require a longer period of time in order to be detected.