Abstract
Objectives
The main objective of this study was to analyze the role of aging stereotype activation (when older adults with aging stereotypes begin to consider themselves as older persons) in the relationship between ageist stereotypes, depressive, anxiety, loneliness, and comorbid anxiety-depressive symptoms.
Methods
Participants were 182 autonomous community-dwelling people between 60 and 88 (mean age = 72.30; SD = 5.53). Three path models were tested exploring the role of considering oneself as an older person as a moderator variable. Ageist stereotypes were included as the independent variable, loneliness as the mediating variable, and anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and comorbid anxiety-depressive symptoms as dependent variables for each model.
Results
The results suggest an influence of ageist stereotypes on anxiety, depressive, and comorbid anxiety-depressive symptoms only in older adults who consider themselves as older persons, and mediated by loneliness.
Conclusion
This study suggests that, when someone considers him or herself as an older person, ageist stereotypes activate loneliness feelings, and this activation is associated with psychological distress, including anxiety, depressive, and comorbid anxiety-depressive symptoms.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank all the participants in the study. We thank the City Council of Getafe (Madrid, Spain) for their support in the recruitment of the sample. Data collection was not preregistered. The study materials, analytic methods, and data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Disclosure statement
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Ethical consideration
All participants signed an informed consent that included information about their voluntary participation, anonymity, no potential for harm, and information about results. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Rey Juan Carlos University (Reference number: 2602201804518).
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.