Abstract

Objectives:Perceptions of ageing can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for older adults, with those who hold more negative views of ageing experiencing more negative consequences of the ageing process, including poorer health and cognitive declines. Exposure to negative stereotypes about their group can also affect older adults performance in cognitive tests, as they are more likely to adopt a prevention focus to avoid mistakes, therefore, performing poorly in tasks requiring them to adopt a gains-oriented focus. Based on regulatory focus theory, we hypothesised that negative perceptions of ageing and stereotype threat may be connected, specifically we hypothesised that those with more negative perceptions of ageing would also have a stronger trait prevention focus.

Method: Two hundred adults aged 60+ took part in an online questionnaire examining their perceptions of ageing and their trait regulatory focus.

Results and Conclusion: Results indicated that negative perceptions of ageing were predictive of a stronger trait prevention focus in a hierarchical multiple regression model. This provides evidence that older adults with more negative perceptions of ageing may adopt a stronger prevention focus, potentially influencing psychological attitudes to everyday tasks and behaviours. Perceptions of ageing and regulatory focus can have implications for the efficacy of health messaging for older adults.

摘要

目标：对衰老的看法可以成为老年人自我实现的预言，那些对衰老持有更多负面看法的人会经历衰老​​过程的更多负面后果，包括更差的健康和认知能力下降。暴露于对其群体的负面刻板印象也会影响老年人在认知测试中的表现，因为他们更有可能采用预防重点来避免错误，因此在需要他们采用以收益为导向的任务中表现不佳。基于调节焦点理论，我们假设对衰老的负面看法和刻板印象威胁可能相关，特别是我们假设那些对衰老有更多负面看法的人也会有更强的特质预防焦点。

方法： 200 名 60 岁以上的成年人参加了一项在线问卷调查，调查他们对衰老的看法和他们的特质调节重点。

结果和结论：结果表明，在分层多元回归模型中，对衰老的负面看法预示着更强的性状预防重点。这提供了证据，表明对衰老有更多负面看法的老年人可能会采取更强的预防重点，可能会影响对日常任务和行为的心理态度。对老龄化和监管重点的看法可能会对老年人健康信息的有效性产生影响。