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Perception of Age Stereotypes and Self-Perception of Aging: A Comparison of French and Moroccan Populations

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Abstract

The objective of this study was threefold: (1) assess the general perceptions of age stereotypes among older French and Moroccan adults, (2) analyze discourse associated with these different perceptions, and (3) compare aging self-perception scores of French and Moroccan (rural/urban) older adults and investigate the sociodemographic and health indicators likely to be associated with these self-perceptions. One-to-one structured interviews were conducted with 260 older French adults living in Marseille and 239 older Moroccans (123 living in Marrakech and 116 living in a Berber village). The same questionnaire comprising multiple-choice and short-answer questions was used in both countries. This methodology allowed us to perform quantitative and qualitative analyses. Participants averaged 73 years of age in both samples. The French and Moroccan older adults perceived positive and negative age stereotypes within their societies, but the Moroccan ones more often perceived positive stereotypes toward older adults. Moreover, almost as many Moroccan people living in Marrakech as French people perceived negative stereotypes toward older adults. The qualitative analysis allowed us to demonstrate that some notions associated with the status of older adults are shared in France and Morocco—such as respect is due to older adults—whereas other notions differ between these societies—such as the association between aging and affection/love in Morocco. Finally, this study also tended to show that the Attitudes Toward Own Aging Scale focuses mainly on the mental/physical domain of old age.

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Notes

  1. The economic crisis of 1975 is thought to have triggered the demographic transition in Morocco (Courbage and Todd 2007).

  2. In urban areas, the birth rate might even be as low as 2.1 children per woman (“Fifty Years of Human Development in Morocco”—General Report 2006).

  3. Respect for elders is explicit in the Koran, as stated in Sura 17, Verses 24-25: “Thy Lord has decreed that ye shall not serve other than Him; and kindness to one’s parents, whether one or both of them reach old age with thee; and say not to them, ‘Fie!’ and do not grumble at them, but speak to them a generous speech. And lower to them the wing of humility out of compassion, and say, ‘O Lord! have compassion on them as they brought me up when I was little!”

  4. During the summer of 2003, 15,000 older adults died in France.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive suggestions on this article, and the improvement they allowed us to make. We would also like to thank Doctors Chantal Crenn and Yannick Jaffré for providing their comments and encouragement on an earlier draft of this article.

This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Heath Prevention and Education (INPES), the Department of Research (ACI “Constructions, normes et écarts” No. 045398) and the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMI 3189: Environnement, santé, sociétés (Université Cheikh Anta Diop/CNRS/Université de Bamako/CNRST Burkina-Faso), Laboratoire de Physiologie et d’Exploration Fonctionnelle, Faculté de Médecine, de Pharmacie et d’Odontologie, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal

    Enguerran Macia, Gilles Boëtsch & Nicole Chapuis-Lucciani

  2. Laboratoire d’Ecologie Humaine, Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Université Cadi Ayyad, Boulevard My Abdallah, Marrakech, BP 2390, Morocco

    Abdelaziz Lahmam & Abdelatif Baali

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  1. Enguerran Macia
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  2. Abdelaziz Lahmam
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Correspondence to Enguerran Macia.

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Macia, E., Lahmam, A., Baali, A. et al. Perception of Age Stereotypes and Self-Perception of Aging: A Comparison of French and Moroccan Populations. J Cross Cult Gerontol 24, 391–410 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-009-9103-0

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