The Relationship Between Ageist Attitudes and Body Image in Women

Abstract

This study aims to understand the relationship between ageist attitudes and body image concerns across women in three different age groups namely; young adults (17 to 21 years), middle aged adults (40 to 49 years) and older adults (60 to 82 years). Two scales, measuring body image and ageism, were administered on a sample of 48 women (N=48) with 16 women in each aforemen-tioned category. The results indicated that women in the older category experienced the highest body image concerns, followed by middle aged and young adults respectively. Attitudes to-wards ageism were assessed based on various dimensions. Ageist attitudes were moderate on most dimensions except for direct prejudice to age in young adults; ‘Social distance’ in middle aged adults  and ‘Stereotype content associated with age categories’ in middle aged adults as well as older adults.  The study has implications for understanding the status of depression, low self-esteem and other co-morbid variables as related to ageism. No significant relationship was found between ageist attitudes and body image.