AGEISM, RACISM, AND HEALTH OF OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS

与高加索同龄人相比，年长的非裔美国人更有可能患上严重疾病，遭受更大的残疾，死亡率也更高。例如，非洲裔美国人的年龄调整高血压患病率比高加索裔美国人高50%以上，相关的发病率和死亡率甚至更高。尽管越来越多的研究旨在确定造成老年非裔美国人健康状况种族差异的机制，但少数族裔人口健康状况下降的原因(S)并不完全清楚。最近的初步结果提出了这样一种可能性，即年龄歧视--更具体地说，老年人对“老年人”的看法在高加索老年男性和女性中，自身衰老的血清型除了影响心血管对压力的反应外，还会影响行走和记忆。此外，下意识地强化衰老的阳性血清型显然可以改善记忆和行走能力，并降低心血管对压力的反应。这些发现表明，加强老年非裔美国人对老龄化和种族的刻板印象和自我认知，也可能提高这一少数群体的日常生活活动和保持独立性的表现。因此，我们建议：1)检验这样一种假设：与接受旨在激活衰老负面形象的干预措施的老年非裔美国人相比，接受旨在激活对衰老的积极印象的干预措施的老年非裔美国人对压力的心血管反应显著降低，认知功能得到改善，身体表现增强。2)检验这一假设，即加强对种族和老龄化的积极刻板印象将增强老年非裔美国人对压力的心血管反应、步行能力和认知功能。这项研究的结果应该为制定干预措施铺平道路，以扩大积极加强年龄和种族陈规定型观念的短期好处，从而改善我国老龄化人口中越来越多的人的功能和健康状况。

Older African Americans are more likely to develop serious illness, suffer greater disability, and have increased mortality compared with their Caucasian peers. For example, the age-adjusted rate of hypertension in African Americans is more than 50% greater than the rate of Caucasian Americans and the associated morbidity and mortality is even higher. Despite a growing body of research aimed at identifying the mechanisms that contribute to the racial disparity in the health status of older African Americans, the reason(s) for the decreased health status in the minority population are not fully understood. Recent preliminary results raise the possibility that ageism more specifically, how older persons perceive "older persons"-- contributes to the increased blood pressure and decreased functional status in the elderly in general, and perhaps, also among older African Americans. In older Caucasian men and women, self serotypes of aging affect walking and memory in addition to the cardiovascular response to stress. Moreover, subconscious reinforcement of positive serotypes of aging apparently improves memory and walking performance and reduces the cardiovascular response to stress. These findings suggest that enhancing the stereotype of aging and race and the self-perception of older African Americans may also enhance the performance of activities of daily living and the maintenance of independence in this minority population. Therefore, we propose: 1) To test the hypothesis that older African Americans exposed to an intervention designed to activate a positive imaging of aging will demonstrate a significantly lower cardiovascular response to stress, improved cognitive function and enhance physical performance compared to older African Americans who are exposed to an intervention designed to activate a negative image of aging. 2) To test the hypothesis that reinforcement of positive stereotypes of race and aging will enhance the cardiovascular response to stress, walking performance and cognitive function in older African Americans. The results of this study should pave the way for the development of interventions that extend the short-term benefits of positive reinforcement of the stereotypes of age and race, thereby improving the function and health status of a growing portion of our aging population.