Emerging evidence suggests that people not only categorize themselves and others based on
age but also in terms of their generational membership. This cross-cultural study compared
attitudes and stereotypes toward age and generational groups across the life span in China,
Germany, and the United States including 1,112 participants between 18 and 86 years of age.
We asked younger, middle-aged, and older respondents to rate either six age groups (e.g.,
adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, young-old, older, and old-old adults) or six
matching generational groups (e.g., Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomer,
Silent Generation, and Greatest Generation) on various characteristics (e.g., happy, competent,
selfish). Consistent with our hypotheses, the results demonstrate that across all three countries
older generations were perceived consistently more positive, whereas older age groups were
perceived as less positive. These findings suggest that generations represent a source of positive
regard and high social status in later life across different countries with different historical
backgrounds and cultures.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:86354 |
| Date | 03 July 2023 |
| Creators | Weiss, David, Zhang, Xin |
| Publisher | Sage |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 0022-0221 |
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