Social stigmatization and attitudes towards age-related changes

Abstract

Grounded in attitude to ethnicity, gender, health, age and other social variables social stigmatization is deeply entrenched in today's society. In the light of increasing life expectancy and changing in age structure of the population, the problem of gerontological ageism seems to be relevant. The negative view of the anthropometric, cognitive, physical characteristics of the older adults is acceptable to society thus adversely affecting their quality of life and secondarily reinforcing undesirable patterns. The paper outlines the basic ideas about this phenomenon, psychological and social determinants, research data, diagnostic methods, as well as possible ways to overcome the problem. An important task for gerontological specialists is educational work at all stages of interaction with older patients and their accompanying persons.