Impact of Old Age on an Occupation’s Image Over 210 Years: An Age Premium for Doctors,Lawyers,and Soldiers

Abstract

As older adults continue to contribute to the labor force, it is critical that perceptions of them reflect these contributions. We explore whether portraying older adults based on their occupational roles instead of their age is linked to more positive sentiments and test the possibility of an age premium. We created the largest historical corpus of American English—a 600-million-word dataset with over 150,000 texts—spanning 210 years (1810–2019). Top descriptors (N = 675,213) of nouns related to age, occupation, and age × occupation over 21 decades were compiled and rated for valence (negative-positive) on a 5-point scale. Occupational role-based framing was associated with more positive portrayals than age-based framing. Positive portrayals of older lawyers increased by 22.6% over 210 years. Older doctors (−1.4%) and older soldiers (−10.7%) experienced a decline in positive portrayals, though sentiments toward older doctors, lawyers, and soldiers remained more positive than those toward older adults.

Keywords

reframing aging historical analysis digital humanities psychomics quantitative social science

What this paper adds

• This study fills a gap in gerontological scholarship by exploring how the categories of age and occupation have interacted to shape societal perceptions of older people over the last two centuries.

• This study furthers scholarly dialogue on reframing aging by looking at whether older adults are framed more positively when framed by their occupational roles than when framed by their age.

• We also explore the possibility of an age premium whereby old age improves the image of certain occupations.

Applications of study findings

• Notwithstanding the reality of ageism, our findings show that in certain occupational contexts, old age comes with a kind of premium, evoking stereotypes related to experience, knowledge, and wisdom.

• These findings make room for the possibility that positive subcategories of older adults may emerge when they are viewed through their occupational roles.

• It is important to highlight the occupational contributions of older adults rather than focus solely on their age.

Introduction

With fertility rates dwindling and life expectancy rising, the world is heading toward a critical demographic inflection point. Between 2017 and 2050, the proportion of the population aged 80 and above is projected to triple from 137 million to 425 million (United Nations, 2017). As older adults form the fastest growing segment of society, issues related to this cohort have become an enduring theme of interest among scholars and policymakers alike. Whereas traditional paradigms of social gerontology typically focus on the vulnerabilities of old age, contemporary perspectives have moved toward highlighting contributions made during later life (Pitt-Catsouphes et al., 2017). Our study examines how the categories of age and occupation have interacted to shape the portrayals of older adults in the last two centuries.

Advanced by Rowe and Kahn (1997), “successful aging” is one of the most prominent concepts in the field of gerontology. They argued that successful aging involves three main components, namely, the freedom from disease and disability, the maintenance of physical and cognitive abilities, as well as continued engagement in social and productive activities. Although the concept of successful aging initially served as a way to disentangle old age from the idea of cognitive and physical decline, it has since been criticized on several grounds. According to Liang and Luo (2012), the concept is inherently ageist in that it eschews the natural biological changes which accompany the aging process, which consequently perpetuates an unrealistic cultural ideal of “agelessness.” The result is therefore a marginalization of older persons with illnesses or disabilities, and a branding of them as “unsuccessful agers,” despite the fact that having such conditions has no major bearing on an older person’s own perception of successful aging (Phelan et al., 2004). Another criticism that has been leveled at the concept is that it attaches a moral value to the “busy ethic”—the idea of keeping oneself busy during retirement (Liang & Luo, 2012). In doing so, the concept overlooks the true quality of one’s experience, which is integral to one’s well-being. It also engenders the perception that those who are neither economically productive nor civically engaged are less valuable (Liang & Luo, 2012).

Our intention in this study is not to prescribe occupational roles as roles that older adults should or must take on. Additionally, we recognize that not all older people are employed. That said, it must be noted that the occupational contributions of older adults have grown tremendously over the decades. Relative to earlier cohorts, older people today are living healthier lives and working longer in societies worldwide. Contrary to widespread beliefs that they are a drain on financial resources, statistics suggest they are an economic powerhouse. Total employment in the United States grew by 8.5% in the last 20 years. All of that growth can be attributed to the increased employment of people aged 60 and above (Emmons, 2021). In 2018, the economic contributions of Americans aged 50 and above amounted to over $8 trillion, a figure anticipated to soar in the coming decades (Terrell, 2019). As older adults continue to contribute to the labor force, it is critical that perceptions of them reflect these contributions. Such was the impetus for this study.

Historical Representations of Older Adults

Several attempts have been made to understand how representations of older adults have changed over time. Analyses of historical corpora of American English comprising newspapers, magazines, fiction, and non-fiction unearthed an increasing negativity in textual narratives on old age in the last two centuries, with age stereotypes becoming more intertwined with illness and disability (Ng & Chow, 2021). Meanwhile, content analyses found that depictions of older persons in visual media—advertisements and television programs—have become more positive in Europe and North America since 1950 (Loos & Ivan, 2018; Ylänne, 2015). Loos and Thijssen (2022) stated that representations of older adults have shifted from a state of low well-being to one of greater well-being, a trend that coincides with the rise of discourses surrounding successful aging. This trend has been said to evince visual ageism—the act of visually underrepresenting older persons or portraying them in a prejudiced fashion—by virtue of how it fuels unrealistic expectations of the aging process.

Social Categorization

Fundamental to human cognition is the tendency to structure information about individuals in terms of social categories (Johnson et al., 2012). This process of social categorization enables individuals to understand and manage a highly complex environment. Much of the research conducted in this area has explored the influence of single categories on cognitive evaluations. However, there is a growing consensus that such an approach might be oversimplistic since individuals inhabit multiple social categories at any point in time (Johnson et al., 2012). These categories do not operate independently but rather interact and intersect to shape social judgment. It has been said that not all categories are used in evaluating the individual. Rather, only those that are contextually relevant will determine which stereotypes are activated (G. V. Bodenhausen, 2009). There is also evidence that the context in which one individual encounters another can result in a differentiation of broad demographic categorizations into more specific subtypes (G. Bodenhausen et al., 2009). In essence, the stereotypes applied to a given individual are subject to a certain level of flexibility and contextual variation.

Age Stereotypes

Beliefs about older adults are multifaceted, with both positive and negative stereotypes influencing evaluations of this group. Examples of positive stereotypes include being wise, tender, and generous, while negative ones include being frail, rigid, and dependent (Casper et al., 2011). The idea that one’s health is affected by the assimilation of age stereotypes into one’s self-concept can be derived from the basic postulates of stereotype embodiment theory (B. Levy, 2009). Negative age stereotypes are associated with a host of adverse health outcomes, including a higher risk of depression and a reduced sense of self-efficacy (B. R. Levy et al., 2000). Conversely, positive age stereotypes are linked to improved well-being and functional health (B. R. Levy et al., 2000). Since not all stereotypes are activated simultaneously, an issue which warrants consideration concerns the circumstances that facilitate the activation of positive or negative age stereotypes.

The Roles of Older Adults

Social role theory indicates that beliefs about social groups are tied to the roles they are perceived to occupy (Eagly, 1987). As a major source of information for individuals in their evaluation of others, social roles act as a contextual construct with the potential to ameliorate bias against social groups (Eagly, 1987). Recently, studies have observed how evaluations of older adults are impacted by information regarding their familial roles. Findings show that older people tend to be described in positive, personality-related terms when framed according to their roles as grandparents as compared to when framed according to their age (Ng & Indran, 2022d; 2022e). A topic which remains ripe for empirical investigation pertains to how older persons are perceived when framed by their occupational roles.

At present, the majority of related research covers the effects of one’s age on personnel or hiring decisions (Cleveland & Landy, 1983; Singer, 1986). Despite considerable evidence that negative stereotypes of older adults proliferate in the workplace, Cleveland and Landy (1983) maintained that age bias occurs mainly in jobs where age is salient to the position. Certain occupations come with age-related stereotypes. While some may be deemed more suitable for younger individuals, others are seen as befitting those who are older (Singer, 1986). There is a dearth of research on the effects of occupational information on societal attitudes toward older adults. Nonetheless, some pertinent insights can be found in the literature. Kite (1996) discovered that knowing an older person was employed moderated the extent to which he or she was viewed as less competent than a young person. The suggestion is therefore that supplying information regarding occupational roles may mitigate negative stereotyping of older adults.

Conceptual and Practical Significance

From a conceptual standpoint, we fill a lacuna in gerontological scholarship by looking at how sentiments toward older workers have changed over time. Past research has looked at how the framing of older adults by their familial roles has changed over time (Ng & Indran, 2022e), but little is known about how sentiments toward older adults are affected when framed by their occupational roles. We explore the intersection of age and occupation by analyzing how sentiments toward older workers have shifted over the last two centuries, a particularly timely topic given that older adults will only continue to represent an increasingly large proportion of the labor force. In terms of practical implications, this study crucially locates the contexts in which negative evaluations of older people may be attenuated by occupational information. Findings lay the foundation for future studies to explore the kinds of circumstances in which old age is valued.

Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. First, to understand the effect of occupational roles on sentiments toward older adults, we compare how sentiments toward older people differ when framed based on their occupational roles (e.g., physician) and their age (e.g., senior citizen). Consistent with social role theory, we hypothesize that occupational role-based framing is linked to more positive sentiments than age-based framing of older adults (Hypothesis 1). Second, to determine the existence of an age premium in the occupational context, we compare the difference in sentiments toward older doctors/lawyers/soldiers and doctors/lawyers/soldiers. In view of the demographic reality of population aging, many have advocated the need to leverage the strengths of an older workforce, thus positioning older adults as individuals whose lifetime of skills and experience make them indispensable to society. We therefore hypothesize that there will be an age premium, whereby sentiments toward older doctors, lawyers, and soldiers are more positive than sentiments toward doctors, lawyers, and soldiers (Hypothesis 2).

Methods

Dataset

Following prior research (Ng & Chow, 2021; Ng & Indran, 2022e), we created a 600-million-word corpus—spanning 21 decades from 1810 to 2019—by integrating the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) from 1810 to 2009 with the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) from 2010 to 2019. The integration of both corpora formed the largest structured historical English corpus with over 150,000 texts collected from newspapers, magazines, fiction, and non-fiction. Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) allowed for the creation of this dataset.

Target Nouns to Measure Age, Occupation, and Age × Occupation Stereotypes

Age

To measure age-based stereotypes over 210 years, all synonyms of “older adult” listed in the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Thesaurus were compiled. Eighteen synonyms emerged. Four of them did not show up in the corpus; three of them appeared fewer than ten times and did not refer to an older adult. Eleven target synonyms were retained for analysis (e.g., aged, elderly, old people, senior citizen, and older adult).

Occupation

The Harris Poll (2014) discovered that doctors (physicians), lawyers (attorneys), and soldiers are among the top 12 most respected occupations in the United States. We thus selected doctor/physician, lawyer/attorney, and soldier as terms for analysis.

Age × Occupation

The collocates for the following terms were compiled: old doctor(s), older doctor(s), old physician(s), older physician(s), old lawyer(s), older lawyer(s), old attorney(s), older attorney(s), old soldier(s), and older soldier(s). We considered that older workers could also be labeled as “aging,” “elderly,” and “aged” but used “old” and “older” as they evidenced the highest prevalence in the corpus.

The top descriptors that co-occurred most frequently with each of the aforementioned nouns—collocates—were compiled per decade for 210 years based on the following inclusion criteria: (a) Lexical Proximity: collocate present within 6 words before or after the target word. Articles like “the” and “a” were not included in the 6-word lexical span. If the target noun was the first word of a sentence, collocates from the preceding sentence were excluded; (b) Relevant context: collocate referred specifically to an older person (checked by two raters trained in gerontology); (c) Mutual Information Score of 3 and above, which indicates semantic bonding, meaning the collocate has a stronger association with the respective synonym than other words in the corpus. This is an application of concordance analysis known as “psychomics,” which has been used in previous studies to analyze societal stereotypes (Ng, 2021a, 2021b; Ng et al., 2021c; Ng & Indran, 2021a, 2021b; Ng & Tan, 2021, 2022). In total, there were 675,213 collocates.

To test both hypotheses, each collocate was rated on a scale from 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive) by two raters. This is a valid and reliable method of measuring words associated with age stereotypes (B. Levy & Langer, 1994) and follows previous analyses (Ng et al., 2015; 2021b). The methodology also supports literature on priming (B. Levy, 2009), which states that the repeated association of negative words with older adults—or words within close lexical proximity—increases implicit ageism. Very negative collocates were rated 1 (e.g., frail), neutral collocates were rated 3 (e.g., transport), and very positive collocates were rated 5 (e.g., venerable). The inter-rater reliability using Cronbach’s alpha was .962 (95% CI: .936, .976) for the scoring method. For every noun per decade, we calculated a mean score which was then weighted (by the number of times the synonym appeared in that decade) to determine a Societal Sentiment Score (SSS) for age, occupation, and age × occupation stereotyping, respectively, per decade. More details regarding our methodology are in Supplementary Text S1.

Analytic Strategy

Hypothesis 1 was tested by analyzing the respective stereotypic trends over 21 decades and by determining whether the respective slopes for occupational role-based framing (e.g., old(er) doctors, lawyers, and soldiers) were significantly different from those for age-based framing (e.g., older adult). Hypothesis 2 was tested by analyzing the difference in slopes between older doctors/lawyers/soldiers and doctors/lawyers/soldiers (e.g., older doctor vs. doctor). Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)—a natural language processing method used for topic modeling—was conducted on the respective age-based and occupational role-based collocates in the 1800s and 1900s. All data pre-processing, text analytics, and statistical analyses were carried out on Python 3.7 and OriginPro 2019b.

Results

Hypothesis 1

As hypothesized, occupational role-based framing was associated with more positive sentiments than age-based framing of older adults over 210 years. Evidence for this was found for all three occupations. Older doctors/physicians were associated with more positive sentiments than older adults. The difference across both slopes reached statistical significance, F (1, 37) = 7.856, p = .008. Older doctors/physicians were portrayed more positively throughout the 210 years compared to older adults. However, positive portrayals of older doctors declined by 1.4% over time, though this downward trend was not statistically significant. In contrast, portrayals of older adults became 15.1% more negative over time (β = −0.023, p = .00148) (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Societal Sentiment Score (SSS) for older doctors/physicians (age × occupation), doctors/physicians (occupation), and older adults (age) across 21 decades from 1810 to 2019.

Similarly, older lawyers/attorneys were associated with more positive sentiments than older adults. The difference across both slopes was statistically significant F (1, 35) = 18.96431, p < .001. Older lawyers experienced a significant increase in positive sentiments across 21 decades, albeit starting out slightly negative (intercept of 2.81, p < .001; 95% CI: 2.66, 2.95). From 1810 to 2019, positive portrayals of older lawyers increased by 22.6% (β = 0.0302, p = .0163). This is in contrast to older adults who were portrayed 15.1% more negatively over the same period (β = −0.023, p = .00148) (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Societal Sentiment Score (SSS) for older lawyers/attorneys (age × occupation), lawyers/attorneys (occupation), and older adults (age) across 21 decades from 1810 to 2019.

For older soldiers, the difference across slopes (sentiments toward older soldiers vs. sentiments toward older adults) did not reach significance. We then tested the difference in mean sentiment scores of older soldiers and older adults across 21 decades and found that the population mean sentiment scores for older soldiers were significantly higher than those for older adults, t (19) = 2.923, p = .00436. This shows that older soldiers garnered more positive sentiment scores than older adults (see Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Societal Sentiment Score (SSS) for older soldiers (age × occupation), soldiers (occupation), and older adults (age) across 21 decades from 1810 to 2019.

These findings support Hypothesis 1. Positive portrayals of older lawyers increased by 22.6% over 210 years, while older doctors (−1.4%) and older soldiers (−10.7%) experienced a decline in positive portrayals. Nevertheless, sentiments toward older doctors/lawyers/soldiers remained more positive than sentiments toward older adults.

Hypothesis 2

We tested the age premium with the hypothesis that older doctors, lawyers, and soldiers evidenced more positive sentiments than doctors, lawyers, and soldiers, respectively. Older lawyers/attorneys evidenced more positive sentiments as compared to lawyers/attorneys. The difference across both slopes reached statistical significance, F (1, 35) = 9.906, p = .00339. Older lawyers enjoyed a 22.6% increase in positive portrayals over 210 years (β = 0.0302, p = .0163). Conversely, lawyers experienced a 2.4% decline in sentiments over the same period, though the latter trend did not reach significance. These results (Figure 1) reflect an age premium for lawyers whereby older lawyers are portrayed more positively than lawyers.

Although the trends for old(er) doctor/physician and doctor/physician as well as the trends for old(er) soldier and soldier were not statistically significant, we found evidence for an age premium by comparing the overall sentiments of old(er) doctors and doctors. Old(er) doctors (M = 3.05, SD = 0.0988) had significantly more positive sentiments than doctors (M = 2.98, SD = 0.0592), t (19) = 2.975, p = .00389 (see Figure 1). Likewise, old(er) soldiers (M = 3.002, SD = 0.203) had significantly more positive scores than soldiers (M = 2.90, SD = 0.096), t (19) = 2.853, p = .00509 (see Figure 3). These findings provide support for an age premium, with the evidence being stronger for lawyers than for doctors and soldiers (see Supplementary Text S1 for more information on the LDA results).

Discussion

This study found that occupational role-based framing of older adults is linked to more positive sentiments than age-based framing. Even more fascinating, however, is the effect that old age has on the image of an occupation. The finding that older workers (older doctors, lawyers, and soldiers) are associated with more positive stereotypes than workers (doctors, lawyers, and soldiers) in general presents an interesting scenario whereby old age may actually afford a premium as far as certain occupations are concerned.

Whereas age-based framing evokes stereotypes related to illness and death, occupational role-based framing summons up stereotypes concerning experience and knowledge. This serves as corroborative evidence that information regarding the occupational roles of older adults can lessen negative age stereotyping (Kite, 1996). It also echoes past findings that older people are viewed more positively when framed by their roles as grandparents than by their age (Ng & Indran, 2022d; 2022e).

Age × Occupation Stereotypes

Sentiments toward older doctors are more positive than toward doctors as a whole. There is a lack of unanimity among scholars about whether older doctors are viewed positively or negatively. While some suggest that older doctors are frequently stereotyped as possessing certain positive attributes such as the willingness to listen, thoroughness, and being reassuring (Mckinstry & Yang, 1994), others contend that older doctors are seen as less willing to learn and less conversant with the latest technological advancements (MacRae, 2015). Results from our topic modeling suggest that in the medical fraternity, old age tends to elicit positive stereotypes. This is likely because older practitioners are perceived as having the requisite experience needed to engage with patients from all walks of life, a quality which renders them well equipped to optimize the quality of care delivered.

Curiously, positive portrayals of older doctors declined by 1.4% over two centuries, though this downward trend was not statistically significant. Lately, there have been concerns that physicians who have been in practice longer may be at risk of providing a lower quality of care (Choudhry et al., 2005). In fact, a recent study concluded that within the same hospital, patients treated by older doctors had higher mortality rates than those cared for by younger doctors (Tsugawa et al., 2017). Literature in the area of skill obsolescence has indicated that older workers might not be suitable for jobs that require manual dexterity due to age-related declines in physical function and response speed (Vasconcelos, 2018). Moreover, there are certain industries for which there is a rapid turnover of knowledge (Löckenhoff, 2018). Continual advancements in medicine and technology mean that the knowledge possessed by older practitioners may fast become obsolete (Choudhry et al., 2005), hence resulting in youth being given a premium.

Unsurprisingly, older lawyers are associated with more positive sentiments than lawyers in general. Results from our LDA analysis illustrate that older lawyers are typically looked upon as distinguished members of the legal enterprise. While younger attorneys are often believed to be more enthusiastic, they are seen as lacking in skill and experience relative to their older colleagues (Rothman et al., 2004).

Theorists in the field of organizational behavior have suggested that older workers are an invaluable source of wisdom capital in certain domains due to the knowledge and experience they are able to cascade to younger staff (Vasconcelos, 2018). The legal field is likely to be one such domain. Although recent years have witnessed an uptick in conversations on the professional risks posed by age-related infirmities (Frye & Oten, 2018), initiatives have been rolled out to ensure that older lawyers can continue contributing to the legal field. For instance, many state bars now allow older lawyers to register for emeritus pro bono status, both to fill gaps in legal aid programs as well as to harness the knowledge and expertise of the older cohort (Frye & Oten, 2018). Additionally, mentorship programs have been implemented to allow older partners to share their expertise with younger associates (Barnes, 2008). Such opportunities for intergenerational contact may have helped cultivate positive beliefs of older lawyers as knowledgeable and experienced, thus resulting in more positive portrayals of older lawyers over time.

Sentiments toward older soldiers are less negative than toward soldiers. Older members of the military may either be veterans or in active duty. Prior studies highlight that society generally exhibits favorable attitudes toward military veterans in the United States. One study uncovered that respondents associated military veterans with words such as “service,” “honor,” and “sacrifice” (Parrott et al., 2020). Furthermore, according to a poll conducted by Gallup in 2001, almost three quarters of veterans in America felt they had been appropriately honored and that the amount of respect and recognition they had received was commensurate with their service (Saad, 2002).

Older active-duty recruits have also been gaining more recognition in society. Throughout history, military forces have been dominated by those who are younger and fitter—understandably so due to the physical strength necessitated by direct combat. However, as the nature of warfare continues to evolve and challenges of modern conflict grow increasingly complex, there have been suggestions that the need for balance, wisdom, and life experience—qualities offered by an older recruitment pool—may trump that for physical prowess (Allenby, 2014). Age-related losses can also be compensated by military technologies (Allenby, 2014). It is therefore plausible that shifts in both demographics and technology have begun to jettison the image of the military as the terrain of the young, in turn generating more discourse on the merits of an older cadre.

Worth noting is the fact that sentiments toward older soldiers have become more negative. Over the years, public discourse on mental health issues has grown perceptibly. While this has led to an increase in awareness of post-traumatic stress experienced by veterans, it may have also spawned negative stereotypes of them as psychologically damaged or predisposed to violence (Kleykamp et al., 2018). Additionally, even though long-term consequences of military service may include positive outcomes such as personal growth, it is conceivable that these positive outcomes have been overshadowed by discourse on veterans’ susceptibility to mental health issues. To what extent this translates into benevolent prejudice is a topic that demands further scrutiny.

Practical Implications

Insights from this study could be integrated into advocacy efforts to reframe aging (Ng & Indran, 2022c, 2022a, 2023; Ng, Indran, et al., 2022b). Notwithstanding the reality of ageism (Ng et al., 2022; Ng & Indran, 2022), our analysis shows that in certain occupational contexts, old age comes with a kind of premium, evoking stereotypes related to experience, knowledge, and skill. These findings make room for the possibility that positive subcategories of older adults may emerge when viewed through their occupational roles. Of foremost importance moving forward is the urgency to take advantage of the context dependency of stereotype activation (Casper et al., 2011). To nudge society into viewing older persons as assets rather than liabilities, attempts must be made to consider how these more positive perceptions of older workers can be parlayed into perceptions of other members of the older populace. For example, the media could focus more on the occupational contributions of older adults instead of their age. Likewise, more emphasis could be placed on the social and economic value created by the older demographic rather than on the problems imposed by an aging population. We recognize that this may perpetuate the view that older adults are aging successfully only if they remain socially or economically productive (Liang & Luo, 2012). However, our findings reveal that old age conjures up positive stereotypes in certain occupational contexts, which ultimately has implications on how negative perceptions of old age can be mitigated.

Earlier research has shown that feeling respected, useful, and valued is essential to aging well. Such feelings translate into positive perceptions of aging which have been linked to positive health outcomes (B. Levy, 2009). There is also evidence that older workers exposed to positive age-related stereotypic information are more motivated to learn and less likely to retire early than those confronted with negative information (Gaillard & Desmette, 2010). Narratives on older adults playing a pivotal role in the workforce and in society at large could therefore be advanced more widely. Once later life is viewed through a nuanced lens which recognizes the value of older adults, society will be able to envision them in a multitude of roles—both paid and unpaid—that can benefit all in diverse ways.

Theoretical Implications

Our findings indicate that societal perceptions of successful aging closely mirror the components of successful aging delineated by Rowe and Kahn (1997). Age-based framing elicits negative stereotypes related to illness and frailty. This shows that the avoidance of disease as well as the maintenance of physical and cognitive abilities—the first two components of Rowe’s and Kahn’s framework—are viewed by society as key elements of successful aging. Meanwhile, the finding that occupational role-based framing is linked to more positive age stereotypes suggests that continued participation in social and productive activities—the third component of Rowe’s and Kahn’s framework—is seen by society as an important determinant of successful aging. Even as we advocate adopting a role-centric approach to reframe aging, there is a need for social gerontologists to either modify the framework of successful aging in a way that is less exclusionary or to develop alternative paradigms that acknowledge both the gains and losses associated with aging.

Limitations and Directions for Future Research

This study has several limitations. First, we only analyzed three occupations. Future studies could analyze for instance, 10 of the most popular occupations to glean insight into how older adults are stereotyped in different jobs. Second, each of these three occupations is generally deemed to be prestigious. Whether older adults in blue-collar or low-status occupations benefit from an age premium or suffer a penalty provides an inviting arena for future research. Third, given the scope of the analysis, we were unable to explore how sentiments toward older workers fare relative to those toward younger workers. To draw more concrete conclusions vis-à-vis the kinds of circumstances under which old age is an advantage, future studies could compare sentiments toward older and younger individuals in different occupational settings.

Fourth, insights from this study apply specifically to the United States. As norms regarding old age vary across cultures (Ng et al., 2021a; Ng & Lim, 2021), future scholarship could tease out the nuances of age and role-based narratives in different cultures. The analysis could also be replicated in societies with higher rates of labor force participation among older adults. Fifth, we did not include specific ages in our search query (e.g., “75-year-old,” “67 years of age”). As it is not uncommon for people to be described by their actual age, future studies could include specific age-based terms. Relatedly, we could not draw conclusions about different age groups as we did not query terms that denote age-group comparisons (e.g., “65–74 years old” or “young-old”). Perceptions of older adults who are in the third age are likely to differ from perceptions of those in the fourth age. More research could be carried out in this area.

These limitations notwithstanding, our innovative use of a corpus to measure stereotypes of older adults circumvents the limitation of most survey-based techniques which typically “provoke” responses rather than study “naturally occurring” behavior. A possible topic for future inquiry could focus on comparing how portrayals of older adults differ when they are framed based on their occupational roles and their familial roles. To understand how representations of older persons in the United States have been impacted by various historical developments—the introduction of pension and welfare systems, the invention of the printing press, the industrial revolution and advances in geriatric medicine—future studies could disaggregate the data by year or decade. Surveys (Ng et al., 2016, 2020; Ng & Levy, 2018; Ng & Rayner, 2010; Sima et al., 2013; Steglitz et al., 2012), interviews, and big data analytics (Giest & Ng, 2018; Ng, 2018; Ng et al., 2023; Ng & Indran, 2023a, 2023b) could also be used to look at how stereotypes of older adults are affected by their occupational roles.

Conclusion

Population aging is an inexorable process most, if not all, societies undergo. A society that sees old age as reflective of experience, knowledge, and wisdom is ultimately one that will adjust well to this demographic shift. Attitudes toward old age and older adults ultimately vary depending on the roles older adults are believed to perform. Our study finds that older adults can be subtyped in positive and meaningful ways when framed in certain occupational settings.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Material - Impact of Old Age on an Occupation’s Image Over 210 Years: An Age Premium for Doctors, Lawyers, and Soldiers

Supplemental Material for Impact of Old Age on an Occupation’s Image Over 210 Years: An Age Premium for Doctors, Lawyers, and Soldiers by Reuben Ng and Nicole Indran in Journal of Applied Gerontology

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to W.Y. for (pre)processing the data.

Author Contributions

R. Ng designed the study, developed the methodology, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, and acquired the funding. N. Indran co-wrote the paper.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: We gratefully acknowledge support from the Social Science Research Council SSHR Fellowship (MOE2018-SSHR-004) and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation IPUR Grant (IPUR-FY2019-RES-03-NG). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, writing, and decision to publish.

Data Accessibility

Data are publicly available at

ORCID iDs

Reuben Ng

Nicole Indran

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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