COVID-19大流行病是否影响了老年人对老龄化的个人和一般看法？损失和收益的证据

Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected older adults’ personal and general views on aging? Evidence for losses and gains

——原载美国《发展心理学》杂志2022年第58卷第6期——

USA <Developmental Psychology> 2022, 58 (6)

【摘要】冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行可能影响了老年人的个人和一般的老龄化观点（VoA），因为在媒体和公共辩论中，他们经常被描绘成一个同质的脆弱群体，特别是在大流行的早期阶段。此外，他们面临重症COVID-19的风险较高，以及其他与大流行有关的压力和限制，可能影响了老年人对自己衰老的看法。在这项研究中，通过区分多个测量场合的规范性年龄分级变化和潜在的大流行病特定历史分级变化，研究了中年人和老年人的个人和一般VoA在多大程度上因大流行而改变。423名40岁及以上的德国成年人的多个VoA指标（个人VoA：对自身衰老的态度、主观年龄、对年龄相关变化的认识[收益和损失]；一般VoA：特定领域的年龄刻板印象）在大流行前的三个测量时间（2012、2015和2017）和大流行爆发后的一个时间（2020年夏天）进行了评估。使用纵向多级回归分析估计和比较了规范的年龄分级变化和大流行的特定变化。在2012年至2017年期间，感知到的与年龄相关的收益和与年龄相关的损失都有所下降，但此后在2017年至2020年期间有所增加。此外，从2017年到2020年，对自身衰老的态度不太积极的整体变化趋势放缓。从2017年到2020年，还出现了主观年龄年轻化的轻微趋势。在大流行病期间，对于大多数人来说，对于年龄的观念向更消极的方向转变。这些发现表明，针对大流行的VoA的变化是多方向的，包括对损失和收益的看法。

【关键词】主观年龄、对自身衰老的态度、年龄刻板印象、年龄相关变化意识、新冠病毒病

[Abstract] The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic might have affected older adults’ personal and general views on aging (VoA) because they were frequently, particularly during the early phase of the pandemic, portrayed as a homogeneous, vulnerable group in the media and in public debates. Also, their higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease progression as well as other pandemic-related stressors and restrictions might have impacted how older adults perceive their own aging. In this study, it was examined to which extent middle-aged and older adults’ personal and general VoA changed due to the pandemic by distinguishing between normative age-graded change across multiple measurement occasions and potentially pandemic-specific history-graded change. Multiple VoA indicators (personal VoA: attitude toward own aging, subjective age, awareness of age-related change [gains and losses]; general VoA: domain-specific age stereotypes) of 423 German adults aged 40 years and older were assessed across three prepandemic measurement occasions (2012, 2015, and 2017) and one occasion after the pandemic’s outbreak (summer 2020). Normative age-graded changes and pandemic-specific changes were estimated and compared using longitudinal multilevel regression analyses. Both perceived age-related gains and age-related losses decreased between 2012 and 2017, but increased thereafter between 2017 and 2020. Further, the overall change trend toward less positive attitude toward own aging slowed down from 2017 to 2020. There was also a slight trend toward younger subjective ages from 2017 to 2020. For most age stereotypes, pandemic-specific trends indicated a shift toward more negative stereotypes. These findings suggest that pandemic-specific changes in VoA are multidirectional, comprising perceptions of both losses and gains.

[Key words] subjective age, attitude toward own aging, age stereotypes, awareness of age-related change, COVID-19

论文原文：Wahl, H.-W., Wettstein, M., Tseng, H.-Y., Schlomann, A., Schmidt, L., & Diehl, M. (2022). Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected older adults’ personal and general views on aging? Evidence for losses and gains. Developmental Psychology, 58(6), 1188-1205.

 https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001348

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