מחקר על זקנים בתקופת הקרונה דר' שרה פרידל
This is an Accepted Manuscript for International Psychogeriatrics as part of the
Cambridge Coronavirus Collection.
DOI: 10.1017/S1041610220001258
COVID-19 Health Worries and Anxiety Symptoms among Older Adults: The
Moderating Role of Ageism
Dr. Yoav S. Bergman * 1
Dr. Sara Cohen-Fridel 2
Prof. Amit Shrira 3
Prof. Ehud Bodner 3,4
Prof. Yuval Palgi 5
1 Faculty of Social Work, Ashkelon Academic College, 12 Ben Tzvi St., Ashkelon,
78211, Israel
2 School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel 52900
3 Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan,
Israel 52900
4 Department of Music, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel 52900
5 Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave., Haifa,
3498838, Israel
-*Corresponding Author:
Dr. Yoav S. Bergman
Faculty of Social Work, Ashkelon Academic College
12 Ben Tzvi St., Ashkelon, 78211, Israel
Tel. +972-54-2124400, Fax +972-9-9516212
Email: yoav.s.bergman@gmail.com
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610220001258
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Abstract
A prominent feature of anxiety in late life is concerns regarding physical health.
Anxiety symptoms among older adults have been connected with various psychological
outcomes, including social isolation and loneliness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many
societies have demonstrated increased ageist attitudes, encouraging older adults to distance
themselves from society. Accordingly, the current study examined the moderating role of
COVID-19-related ageism in the connection between COVID-19 health worries and anxiety
symptoms among older adults.
Data was collected from 243 older adults (age range 60-92; M = 69.75, SD = 6.69),
who completed scales assessing COVID-19-related health worries and ageism, as well as
anxiety symptoms. The results demonstrated that both health worries and ageism were
positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Moreover, the connection between health
worries and anxiety symptoms was more pronounced among older adults with high ageism
levels. The study highlights the vulnerability of older adults in general, and ageist older adults
in particular, to the negative consequences of COVID-19-related health worries, and
emphasizes the role of the increased ageist stance of society during the pandemic in this
regard.
Keywords: Ageism, Anxiety symptoms, COVID-19, COVID-19-related health
worries
תאריך עדכון אחרון : 07/07/2020