Race and Gender-Based Perceptions of Older Septuagenarian Adults

• Published in: Women's Health Reports
• Main Authors: Forest Melton, Kelly Palmer, Sade Solola, Luis Luy, Kathryn Herrera-Theut, Leanne Zabala, Shannon M. Knapp, Ryan Yee, Erika Yee, Elizabeth Calhoun, Megan C. Thomas Hebdon, Natalie Pool, Nancy Sweitzer, Khadijah Breathett
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mary Ann Liebert 2022-11-01
• Subjects: bias; racial disparities; gender disparities; geriatric
• Online Access: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/WHR.2022.0063

Objectives: Older adults face racism, sexism, and ageism. As the U.S. population ages, it is important to understand how the current population views older adults. Methods: Participants recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk provided perceptions of older Black and White models' photographs. Using mixed-effect models, we assessed interactions between race and gender of participants and models. Results: Among Participants of Color and White participants (n?=?712, 70% non-Hispanic White, 70% women, mean 37.81 years), Black models were perceived as more attractive, less threatening, and sadder than White models, but differences were greater for White participants (race-by-race interaction: attractive p?=?0.003, threatening p?=?0.009, sad p?=?0.016). Each gender perceived their respective gender as more attractive (gender-by-gender interaction p?<?0.0001). Male and female participants perceived male models as happier than female models, but differences were greater for male participants (p?=?0.026). Irrespective of participant age group, women were perceived as more threatening (p?=?0.012). Other perceptions were not significant. Discussion: Participants had few biases toward older Black and White models, while gender biases favored men.