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Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism
BACKGROUND: Contributions of older adults amid the COVID‐19 pandemic have been eclipsed by discourse positioning them as an at‐risk population. We assess whether age‐based framing (e.g., senior citizen) is associated with more negative stereotyping in the media compared to familial role‐based framin...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8661521/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34674224 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17532 |
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author | Ng, Reuben Indran, Nicole |
author_facet | Ng, Reuben Indran, Nicole |
author_sort | Ng, Reuben |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Contributions of older adults amid the COVID‐19 pandemic have been eclipsed by discourse positioning them as an at‐risk population. We assess whether age‐based framing (e.g., senior citizen) is associated with more negative stereotyping in the media compared to familial role‐based framing (e.g., grandparent) across 8 months, from a baseline period (October 2019–December 2019) to the onset of the pandemic (January 2020–May 2020). METHODS: Leveraging a 12‐billion‐word news media database—with over 30 million news articles from over 7000 websites—we identified the most common synonyms for age‐based framing (e.g., senior citizen) and familial role‐based framing (e.g., grandparent). For each framing category, we compiled the most frequently used descriptors every month, amassing 488,907 descriptors in total. All descriptors were rated from 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive) to determine a Cumulative Aging Narrative Score (CANS) for age‐based and familial role‐based framing. RESULTS: Age‐based framing of older adults increased negative stereotyping in the media by seven times compared to familial role‐based framing during COVID‐19. The percentage of positive topics for age‐based framing was significantly lower during COVID‐19 (35%) than before (61%). Conversely, the percentage of positive topics for familial role‐based framing was higher during the pandemic (91%) than before (70%). CONCLUSION: This is one of the first empirical studies on whether framing older adults based on age or role is linked to more negative stereotypes during COVID‐19. We argue for a more role‐centered approach in framing older adults so that their contributions are acknowledged and valued by society. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8661521 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-86615212021-12-10 Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism Ng, Reuben Indran, Nicole J Am Geriatr Soc COVID‐19‐Related Content BACKGROUND: Contributions of older adults amid the COVID‐19 pandemic have been eclipsed by discourse positioning them as an at‐risk population. We assess whether age‐based framing (e.g., senior citizen) is associated with more negative stereotyping in the media compared to familial role‐based framing (e.g., grandparent) across 8 months, from a baseline period (October 2019–December 2019) to the onset of the pandemic (January 2020–May 2020). METHODS: Leveraging a 12‐billion‐word news media database—with over 30 million news articles from over 7000 websites—we identified the most common synonyms for age‐based framing (e.g., senior citizen) and familial role‐based framing (e.g., grandparent). For each framing category, we compiled the most frequently used descriptors every month, amassing 488,907 descriptors in total. All descriptors were rated from 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive) to determine a Cumulative Aging Narrative Score (CANS) for age‐based and familial role‐based framing. RESULTS: Age‐based framing of older adults increased negative stereotyping in the media by seven times compared to familial role‐based framing during COVID‐19. The percentage of positive topics for age‐based framing was significantly lower during COVID‐19 (35%) than before (61%). Conversely, the percentage of positive topics for familial role‐based framing was higher during the pandemic (91%) than before (70%). CONCLUSION: This is one of the first empirical studies on whether framing older adults based on age or role is linked to more negative stereotypes during COVID‐19. We argue for a more role‐centered approach in framing older adults so that their contributions are acknowledged and valued by society. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2021-12-24 2022-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8661521/ /pubmed/34674224 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17532 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. |
spellingShingle | COVID‐19‐Related Content Ng, Reuben Indran, Nicole Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism |
title | Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism |
title_full | Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism |
title_fullStr | Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism |
title_full_unstemmed | Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism |
title_short | Reframing aging during COVID‐19: Familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism |
title_sort | reframing aging during covid‐19: familial role‐based framing of older adults linked to decreased ageism |
topic | COVID‐19‐Related Content |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8661521/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34674224 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17532 |
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