(Press-News.org) Caregivers view elderly consumers as "old" when they can no longer perform everyday consumption activities on their own regardless of their actual age, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Consumption activities such as shopping, preparing meals, doing housework, going to the doctor, taking medications, and managing money serve as a means of identifying someone as old and a venue for working through conflicts that arise when older consumers who do not identify as old are treated as an 'old person' by family members and service providers," write authors Michelle Barnhart (Oregon State University) and Lisa Peñaloza (Bordeaux Management School).
Over 10 million Americans are providing assistance to elderly parents, and eldercare has grown into a $260 billion a year business. These numbers are projected to skyrocket in the coming years since Americans aged 85 and older are now the fastest growing segment of the population.
The authors conducted in-depth interviews with consumers in their late 80s, their family members, and paid caregivers. When older consumers didn't accept being treated like an old person, they negotiated their identity with caregivers through consumption activities. Sometimes they attempted to convince through verbal arguments or prove that they are not old by performing an activity independently. Another strategy was to force caregivers to perform joint activities in a way that the older person was no longer treated as old. And one final strategy was to covertly exclude younger caregivers from an activity. For instance, some of the older consumers hid their driving when caregivers had previously indicated that they believed the older person could no longer drive safely.
"Friends and family members who provide assistance to older consumers should consider the ways they treat them as unaware, confused, dependent, at-risk, or any of the other devalued characteristics that American society commonly associates with old people. By treating older people as valued adults, they can provide needed assistance while decreasing their chances of generating conflict by threatening the older consumer's identity," the authors conclude.
###
Michelle Barnhart and Lisa Peñaloza. "Who Are You Calling Old? Negotiating Old Age Identity in the Elderly Consumption Ensemble." Journal of Consumer Research: April 2013. For more information, contact Michelle Barnhart (michelle.barnhart@bus.oregonstate.edu) or visit http://ejcr.org/.
Who are you calling old? How elderly consumers negotiate their identities
2012-12-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
The current state of lung cancer treatment
2012-12-11
A review in the December issue of the journal Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine by Paul Bunn Jr, MD, University of Colorado Cancer Center investigator and past president of ASCO, IASLC and AACI describes the current state of lung cancer care.
"We're in a new paradigm in which we realize this top cause of cancer deaths is actually a number of related diseases, each potentially with its own cause and cure," Bunn says.
The review describes the shift from blanketing lung cancer with radiation and chemotherapy, to targeting the specific genetic mutations that cause ...
Battling brittle bones... with broccoli and spinach?
2012-12-11
Troy, N.Y. – A new study from engineering researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows, for the first time, how the little-understood protein osteocalcin plays a significant role in the strength of our bones. The findings could lead to new strategies and therapeutics for fighting osteoporosis and lowering the risk of bone fracture.
Funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the study details how fractures in healthy bones begin with the creation of incredibly tiny holes, each measuring only about 500 atoms in diameter, within the bone's mineral structure. ...
Reports assess global student achievement in math, science and reading literacy
2012-12-11
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. (12-11-12)—Students from East Asian countries, in addition to a select group of European countries, outperformed students around the world in mathematics, science and reading at both the fourth and eighth grades, according to results released Dec. 11 by Lynch School of Education Professors Ina V.S. Mullis and Michael O. Martin, executive directors of the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the first global assessment of mathematics and science to provide data about trends over ...
Holiday shopping madness: When do consumers seek to punish fellow shoppers for behaving badly?
2012-12-11
Consumers seek to punish fellow consumers who violate social norms while shopping but also make exceptions depending on the situation, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Punishment is a complex decision for consumers to make as it is difficult to punish someone but also difficult to look the other way. Consumers do not seem to make these decisions lightly, and a number of interesting factors influence consumer punishment decisions," write authors Lily Lin, Darren W. Dahl (both University of British Columbia), and Jennifer J. Argo (University ...
How do stay-at-home dads seek greater social acceptance?
2012-12-11
In order to avoid the stigma and loss of status posed by their lifestyle choice, stay-at-home fathers are mobilizing to build greater legitimacy for their marginalized gender identity, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Stay-at-home fathers aggressively pursue recognition by and acceptance from mainstream institutions, with a particular emphasis on the mass market and iconic household and family-oriented brands. Accordingly, they vigilantly watch for mass media representations and advertisements that positively acknowledge their collective ...
Need to move soon? Don't trust your emotions
2012-12-11
Consumers are more likely to make emotional instead of objective assessments when the outcomes are closer to the present time than when they are further away in the future, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"The proximity of a decision's outcome increases consumer reliance on feelings when making decisions. Feelings are relied upon more when the outcome is closer in time because these feelings appear to be more informative in such situations," write authors Hannah H. Chang (Singapore Management University) and Michel Tuan Pham (Columbia University).
From ...
Value or attention: Why do consumers prefer familiar products?
2012-12-11
Consumers are more likely to purchase a product if they have previously focused their attention on it but are less likely to purchase a product they have previously ignored, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"It's generally assumed that consumers will choose products that provide the greatest value. But prior consideration of a product makes it easier to process the product when it's encountered later and this influences whether or not consumers like the product, regardless of the benefits it provides. The act of attending to a product increases ...
Mobile app boosts weight loss by 15 pounds
2012-12-11
CHICAGO --- Using a mobile app that tracks eating and activity helped people lose an average of 15 pounds and keep it off for at least a year, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.
But the technology only aided weight loss when its users also attended regular classes about nutrition and exercise. The app alone didn't help.
"The app is important because it helps people regulate their behavior, which is really hard to do," said Bonnie Spring, lead investigator of the study and a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School ...
Binge eating, overeating may be associated with initiating use of marijuana, other drugs
2012-12-11
CHICAGO – Overeating and binge eating may be associated with initiating use of marijuana and other drugs in a study of adolescents and young adults, according to a study published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.
Binge eating is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) as eating an amount of food that is larger than most people would eat in a similar period under similar circumstances and feeling a lack of control over eating during the episode, according to the study ...
Study suggests odds of visual field testing for glaucoma decreased most for Hispanics in past decade
2012-12-11
CHICAGO – The odds of individuals with open-angle glaucoma undergoing visual field testing decreased for all racial/ethnic groups from 2001 through 2009, but the odds decreased the most for Hispanic men and women in a study of enrollees in a large U.S. managed care network, according to a report published in the December issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, a JAMA Network publication.
Open-angle glaucoma (OAG) affects more than 3 million individuals in the United States and is a major cause of visual impairment. Studies have found the condition is more prevalent in racial ...