Negative and positive ageism in an Italian sample: how ageist beliefs relate to epistemic trust, psychological distress, and well-being

Abstract

Ageism is a social issue of growing concern; ageist beliefs can shape the individual and collective experience of aging. The present study aimed to explore positive and negative ageism in young adults (YA) (18-30 years) and adults (AD) (31-60 years) and their relationship with epistemic trust, psychological distress, and psychological well-being. 301 Italian adult participants completed an online survey that included the following self-report questionnaires: attitudes towards older people scale, epistemic trust, mistrust and credulity questionnaire, depression anxiety stress scale-21, and Warwick-Edinburgh mental wellbeing scale. Negative ageism was significantly higher in YA compared to AD; on the contrary, AD presented more positive ageism than YA. When considering the entire sample, negative ageism was correlated with various dimensions of psychological distress and epistemic trust. A mediation model revealed that epistemic mistrust fully mediated the relationship between age and negative ageism, suggesting that changes in ageist beliefs that seem to occur with age are mediated by a mistrustful epistemic stance. Future research should focus on further exploring the link between epistemic trust, mental health, and holding ageist beliefs. The results are also discussed in terms of their implications for the treatment of older patients.

Epistemic trust: a comprehensive review of empirical insights and implications for developmental psychopathology

“…The resulting synthesis is displayed in Table 1 . See Supplementary Table 1 (Barth et al ., 2014 ; Bascandziev & Harris, 2014, 2016 ; Baumann et al ., 2023 ; Bernard et al ., 2012 ; Bernard et al ., 2014 ; Bernard et al ., 2016 ; Bincoletto et al ., 2023 ; Birch et al ., 2008 ; Bo et al ., 2017 ; Boseovski & Thurman, 2014 ; Bridgers et al ., 2016 ; Brink & Wellman, 2020 ; Brosseau-Liard & Birch, 2010 , 2011 ; Brosseau-Liard et al ., 2015 ; Brosseau-Liard, et al ., 2018 ; Butler et al ., 2018 ; Campbell et al ., 2021 ; Castelain et al ., 2016 ; Chan & Tardif, 2013 ; Clegg et al ., 2019 ; Clément et al ., 2013 ; Corriveau et al ., 2009 ; Corriveau et al ., 2011 ; Corriveau et al ., 2013 ; Corriveau & Harris, 2009a , 2009b ; Corriveau & Kurkul, 2014 ; Danovitch & Alzahabi, 2013 ; Danovitch & Mills, 2014 ; Ding et al ., 2022 ; Doebel et al ., 2016 ; Durkin & Shafto, 2016 ; Echterhoff et al ., 2017 ; Einav, 2014 ; Einav et al ., 2020 ; Einav & Robinson, 2010 ; Elashi & Mills, 2014 ; Fedra & Schmidt, 2019 ; Fitneva & Dunfield, 2010 ; Frenken & Imhoff, 2022; Fusaro & Harris, 2008; Gierth & Bromme, 2020 ; Gilbert et al ., 1990 ; Gilbert et al ., 1993 ; Ghossainy et al ., 2021 ; Guerrero et al ., 2017 ; Guerrero et al ., 2019 ; Guerrero et al ., …”

“…Similar findings using translated versions of the scale were reported in large community samples in Italy (Liotti et al , 2023 ; Nimbi et al , 2023 ; Tanzilli et al ., 2022 ) and Germany (Kampling et al , 2022 ). Additionally, in a general sample of 301 Italians, Bincoletto et al ( 2023 ) found that negative ageism was associated with psychological distress and linked to epistemic mistrust. Different from the cross-sectional studies using general adult participants, Riedl et al ( 2023 ) were the first to apply the ETMCQ to a clinical sample (249 psychosomatic inpatients receiving 6-week rehabilitation treatment in Austria).…”

“…Altogether, we may conclude that these 7 studies using the ETMCQ provide emerging empirical evidence for the theoretical associations drawn between epistemic stance, adverse childhood experiences, attachment style, mentalizing capacity, and psychopathology. In addition to the key variables, epistemic mistrust and/or epistemic credulity were found to be significantly associated with lower abilities in emotional regulation (Liotti et al , 2023 ), immature defense mechanisms (Tanzilli et al ., 2022 ), maladaptive response patterns (Nimbi et al ., 2023 ; Tanzilli et al ., 2022 ), and prejudice and stereotypes (Bincoletto et al ., 2023 ). Emotional dysregulation and dysfunctional defense mechanisms and response patterns are typically associated with psychopathology, and the evidence of these associations added more support to the theory.…”

“…A direct empirical exploration of the epistemic trust model of developmental psychopathology has been facilitated by the development of the ETMCQ, a self-report scale that measures epistemic stance. The 7 studies (Bincoletto et al ., 2023 ; Campbell et al ., 2021 ; Kampling et al ., 2022 ; Liotti et al ., 2023 ; Nimbi et al ., 2023 ; Riedl et al ., 2023 ; Tanzilli et al ., 2022 ) that tested the ETMCQ with relevant psychological variables in large, representative populations or clinical samples all reported evidence supporting the key assumptions regarding the relations of dysfunctional epistemic strategies with adverse childhood experiences, insecure attachment, poor mentalization, and psychopathology. However, an unexpected finding appeared in Campbell et al .…”

“…Given the rapid evolution of this field, another search was conducted in May 2023 to capture recent studies. Two additional studies (Bincoletto et al ., 2023 ; Locati et al ., 2023 ) were identified in September 2023 and included in the review. An examination of reference lists of retrieved papers and a forward search was carried out in addition to the database searches to look for relevant studies investigating psychological processes that are similar but use alternative terms.…”