We examined differences across three groups in Israel to test the double jeopardy versus the intersection escape hypotheses-which evaluate whether being older and belonging to an underrepresented group serves as a double burden, exposing older minorities to higher levels of perceived ageism or on the contrary, older age serves as a protective factor, especially for underrepresented groups.

A cross-sectional, nationally representative sample, consisting of three groups: Veteran Israelis, Israeli Arabs and immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. The latter two groups represent underrepresented (minority) populations in Israel.

Community-dwelling Israelis over the age of 50.

The sample was composed of 1570 participants.

To examine the double jeopardy versus the intersectional escape hypothesis, self-perceptions of aging (SPA) and perceived age-based discrimination in the healthcare system were examined as outcome variables.

Among Israeli Arabs, being older was related to better SPA, whereas among the immigrants being older was related to worse SPA. As immigrants became older, they were more likely to report ageist experiences. Israeli Arabs reported higher levels of ageist experiences, regardless of their age.

The findings point to certain groups that require education about ageism and the aging processes and might require further protection from the experiences of ageism. The findings also point to the relevance of different theoretical paradigms that advocate for the consideration of culture and group membership in the understanding of the experiences of ageism.

Perceived health status is an important health indicator related to successfulaging and older people’s quality of life. Perceived health status depends on biological, social and psychological factors, for example, at a social level, depends on comparisons with the peer group that individuals carry out and on attitudes towards aging, ageism andhow older people believe they are viewed by society. The aim of this study was to exploreattitudes towards aging and self-perceptions of aging among Spanish middle age and older people and to identify the influence on perceived health status.

The sample comprised 1,124 individuals with ages between 50 to 98 years-old (M= 64.84, SD= 10.12) from the Aging in Spain Longitudinal Study database, Pilot Survey (ELES-PS).

Almost 70 per cent of the participants stated that old age begins at a specific chronological age and half of them considered that society treats older people with indifference. Self-perceptions of aging and attitudes towards aging were significant predictors that explain a 12.2% in the variance of perceived health status.

Results from this study highlight the importance of perceptions and attitudestowards aging for older adults’ health. Addressing negative self-perceptions of aging andnegative attitudes towards aging can be particularly useful because they are associated with more pessimistic expectancies about the aging process.

Evidence linking subjective concerns about cognition with poorer objective cognitive performance is limited by reliance on unidimensional measures of self-perceptions of aging (SPA). We used the awareness of age-related change (AARC) construct to assess self-perception of both positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses). We tested whether AARC has greater utility in linking self-perceptions to objective cognition compared to well-established measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. We examined the associations of AARC with objective cognition, several psychological variables, and engagement in cognitive training.

Cross-sectional observational study.

The sample comprised 6056 cognitively healthy participants (mean [SD] age = 66.0 [7.0] years); divided into subgroups representing middle, early old, and advanced old age.

We used an online cognitive battery and measures of global AARC, AARC specific to the cognitive domain, subjective cognitive change, attitudes toward own aging (ATOA), subjective age (SA), depression, anxiety, self-rated health (SRH).

Scores on the AARC measures showed stronger associations with objective cognition compared to other measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. Higher AARC gains were associated with poorer cognition in middle and early old age. Higher AARC losses and poorer cognition were associated across all subgroups. Higher AARC losses were associated with greater depression and anxiety, more negative SPA, poorer SRH, but not with engagement in cognitive training.

Assessing both positive and negative self-perceptions of cognition and aging is important when linking self-perceptions to cognitive functioning. Objective cognition is one of the many variables – alongside psychological variables – related to perceived cognitive losses.