{"id":2730,"date":"2008-10-07T15:15:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-07T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/when-dear-is-an-insult.html"},"modified":"2008-10-07T15:15:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-07T15:15:00","slug":"when-dear-is-an-insult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/when-dear-is-an-insult.html","title":{"rendered":"When “Dear” is an insult"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple years ago, I worked on a commentary for a certain news anchor who took issue with describing older people as “cute.” Isn’t that a little condescending? <\/p>\n

Now, the New York Times looks at the quiet but persistent insults<\/a> that we seem to bestow on older Americans: <\/p>\n

<\/a>Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health; the store clerk who assumes that an older person does not know how to work a computer, or needs to be addressed slowly or in a loud voice. Then there are those who address any elderly person as \u201cdear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think they\u2019re being nice,\u201d said Elvira Nagle, 83, of Dublin, Calif., \u201cbut when I hear it, it raises my hackles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now studies are finding that the insults can have health consequences, especially if people mutely accept the attitudes behind them, said Becca Levy, an associate professor of epidemiology and psychology at Yale University, who studies the health effects of such messages on elderly people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose little insults can lead to more negative images of aging,\u201d Dr. Levy said. \u201cAnd those who have more negative images of aging have worse functional health over time, including lower rates of survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a long-term survey of 660 people over age 50 in a small Ohio town, published in 2002, Dr. Levy and her fellow researchers found that those who had positive perceptions of aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer, a bigger increase than that associated with exercising or not smoking. The findings held up even when the researchers controlled for differences in the participants\u2019 health conditions.<\/p>\n

In her forthcoming study, Dr. Levy found that older people exposed to negative images of aging, including words like \u201cforgetful,\u201d \u201cfeeble\u201d and \u201cshaky,\u201d performed significantly worse on memory and balance tests; in previous experiments, they also showed higher levels of stress.<\/p>\n

Despite such research, the worst offenders are often health care workers, said Kristine Williams, a nurse gerontologist and associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Nursing.<\/p>\n

To study the effects of elderspeak on people with mild to moderate dementia, Dr. Williams and a team of researchers videotaped interactions in a nursing home between 20 residents and staff members. They found that when nurses used phrases like \u201cgood girl\u201d or \u201cHow are we feeling?\u201d patients were more aggressive and less cooperative or receptive to care. If addressed as infants, some showed their irritation by grimacing, screaming or refusing to do what staff members asked of them.<\/p>\n

The researchers, who will publish their findings in The American Journal of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease and Other Dementias, concluded that elderspeak sent a message that the patient was incompetent and \u201cbegins a negative downward spiral for older persons, who react with decreased self-esteem, depression, withdrawal and the assumption of dependent behaviors.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out the link<\/a> for more. <\/p>\n

It may make you think twice before you call your elderly neighbor “Sweetie.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple years ago, I worked on a commentary for a certain news anchor who took issue with describing older people as “cute.” Isn’t that a little condescending? Now, the New York Times looks at the quiet but persistent insults that we seem to bestow on older Americans: Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-and-that"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen "Dear" is an insult - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/when-dear-is-an-insult.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When "Dear" is an insult - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A couple years ago, I worked on a commentary for a certain news anchor who took issue with describing older people as “cute.” Isn’t that a little condescending? 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}