New research by experts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst unveiled that older adults tend to live longer in counties with more age bias.
The study appeared in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
“Rather than dying earlier in counties with more negative attitudes toward older adults, we found in fact that older adults were living longer in counties with more negative attitudes towards older adults,” according to the paper’s senior author.
The research team analyzed data derived from more than one million Americans between 2003 and 2018 in accordance with Harvard University’s Project Implicit.
“Contrary to hypotheses but consistent with prior work, explicit age bias was cross-sectionally and longitudinally associated with lower mortality, over and above covariates and generalized community bias,” the authors of the study determined.
“Results highlight the uniqueness of older age relative to other stigmatized identities. Further examination of the association of community-level age bias with better health may improve longevity for all communities.”
