Public Interest in Research on Aging: Analysis of Altmetric Attention Scores Over 5 Years.

This study pinpoints the areas in gerontological research that have commanded the most public attention as scored by Altmetric. We collected 12,740 outputs published in gerontological journals over 5 years from 2017 to 2022. Next, we identified the top 5% of outputs with the highest Altmetric Attention Scores. After removing duplicate publications and those without an abstract, 588 outputs remained. Our content analysis of the abstracts was conducted deductively and inductively. Theme 1 (50%; N = 293) revolved around "Health and Well-Being" (Theme 1). Theme 2 (28%; N = 164) was about "Health Services, Interventions and Innovations." Theme 3 was about "Informal and Long-Term Care" (13%; N = 80). Theme 4 focused on "Structural Inequalities" affecting older adults (9%; N = 51). Gerontologists should strengthen collaboration with other stakeholders to better engage the public across different age-related issues. These partnerships will enable the creation of initiatives that better serve the needs of aging populations.

Social media discourse on ageism, sexism, and racism: Analysis of 150 million tweets over 15 years.

BACKGROUND: Ageism is a major but oft-overlooked social determinant of health. In fact, it is widely accepted among scholars that ageism is one of the least acknowledged forms of inequality, although few empirical attempts have been made to substantiate this claim. This is the first study that quantifies the amount of discourse dedicated to ageism, sexism, and racism on Twitter. Specifically, we rely on the usage of hashtags as a proxy for the frequency of discussions surrounding each form of inequality over a 15-year period from 2007 to 2022. We also identify key events that triggered spikes in Twitter activity for each form of inequality. METHODS: Hashtags related to racism and sexism were extracted from past scholarship. We also employed a snowball sampling method whereby we queried the hashtags using Twitter's search function to identify other hashtags. As limited research has been conducted on ageism-related hashtags, we queried hashtags utilized by advocacy groups and adopted a snowball sampling method to compile other relevant hashtags. Tweets collected (N = 154,353,047) spanned 15 years, from August 23, 2007 to December 31, 2022. RESULTS: From 2007 to 2022, racism-related hashtags were used the most, followed by sexism-related hashtags and ageism-related hashtags. Racism-related hashtags (N = 99,250,348) were mentioned about 60 times more than ageism-related hashtags (N = 1,648,926). Sexism-related hashtags (N = 38,933,113) were mentioned 24 times more than ageism-related hashtags. The increasing linear trend of tweets associated with ageism (p < 0.001), sexism (p < 0.05), and racism (p < 0.05) reached significance. Incidents of racism and sexism often generated widespread public outrage. Conversely, instances of ageism rarely caused spikes in social media activity. Rather, these spikes were mainly observed during events such as the release of a report on ageism, a conference related to aging, or observances such as International Day of Older Persons. CONCLUSION: There is a need to hasten moves to raise awareness of ageism. To ensure that discussions on ageism are not confined to academic and policy circles, advocacy campaigns could be held to educate the public on the issue and its negative concomitants.

Advocating for Older Adults in the Age of Social Media: Strategies to Achieve Peak Engagement on Twitter.

Background: Over the last decade, many organizations dedicated to serving the needs and interests of older adults have turned to social media platforms, such as Twitter, subsequently rebranded X, to improve the visibility of age-related issues. However, notwithstanding their growing digital presence and participation, minimal attention has been paid to the use of social media among these advocacy groups. To achieve policy change, advocacy organizations must first be able to engage and mobilize audiences. Objective: Our study aims to elucidate how different tweet features affect the time it takes for posts uploaded by age advocacy organizations to reach peak engagement. Methods: We collated 204,905 tweets from 53 age advocacy organizations posted over a 12-year period. The engagement score of each tweet was calculated by combining well-established metrics, namely likes, retweets, quote tweets, and replies. We ran Cox models with tweet features as predictors and time-to-peak engagement as the outcome. "Peak engagement" (event) refers to engagement scores above the 75th percentile, and "time" refers to months taken to reach peak engagement per tweet. Results: Approximately 1 in 2 tweets (n=103,068, 50.3%) had either no hashtags or just 1 hashtag. Around two-thirds (n=131,220, 64%) of the tweets included a URL. Visual information was highly underused, with most tweets not including GIFs (n=204,202, 99.7%), videos (n=199,800, 97.5%), or photos (n=143,844, 70.2%). Roughly half (n=101,470, 49.5%) of the tweets contained mentions and 9.3% (n=19,009) of tweets were replies. Only 4.5% (n=9285) of tweets were quote tweets. Most tweets were uploaded in the afternoon (n=86,004, 42%) and on a weekday (n=180,499, 88.1%). As hypothesized, features associated with peak engagement were the inclusion of visual elements like photos, which increased peak engagement by 3 times (P<.001), and the use of 3 or more hashtags (P<.001). Quote tweets increased engagement by 3 times (P<.001), as compared to regular tweets, controlling for account-level covariates. Tweets from organizations with a higher tweet volume were 40% less likely to reach peak engagement (P<.001). Conclusions: Social media as a networked platform has the potential to reach users on a global scale and at an exponential speed. Having uncovered the features that are more likely to reach peak engagement on Twitter, our study serves as an invaluable resource for age advocacy organizations in their movement to create a more age-inclusive world.

Questions About Aging and Later Life on Quora.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Gerontologists have yet to explore the types of questions individuals have about later life. Analyzing questions offers a unique perspective on how individuals make sense of age-related issues. Specifically, questions require people to articulate specific inquiries or doubts, thus providing an unfiltered glimpse into the public's concerns and priorities vis-à-vis aging. We conduct a content analysis of questions posted on Quora that pertain to later life. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We compiled 2,950 questions posted across four topics on Quora: "Aging," "Senior Citizens," "Elders" and "Older People." After applying our exclusion criteria, 658 questions were left for content analysis. These questions received more than 250 million views. Both deductive and inductive approaches guided the qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Five themes emerged from the analysis. The biggest theme (30%; N = 195) dealt with 'Practical Concerns' (Theme 1). The next biggest theme (29%; N = 191) was about "Health and Well-Being" (Theme 2). Theme 3 was about the 'Prolongation of Youth' (16%; N = 110) and Theme 4 was about the 'Science of Aging' (15%; N = 97). Theme 5 covered 'Existential Concerns' (10%; N = 65). DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: There is a need to address concerns that the public has about aging, particularly those involving practical issues and health. Growing old is unavoidable and with the population aging at a rapid pace, assuaging such concerns is of paramount importance. By doing so, individuals can approach the aging process with greater clarity and an elevated sense of empowerment.

#ProtectOurElders: Analysis of Tweets About Older Asian Americans and Anti-Asian Sentiments During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: A silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic is that it cast a spotlight on a long-underserved group. The barrage of attacks against older Asian Americans during the crisis galvanized society into assisting them in various ways. On Twitter, now known as X, support for them coalesced around the hashtag #ProtectOurElders. To date, discourse surrounding older Asian Americans has escaped the attention of gerontologists-a gap we seek to fill. Our study serves as a reflection of the level of support that has been extended to older Asian Americans, even as it provides timely insights that will ultimately advance equity for them. OBJECTIVE: This study explores the kinds of discourse surrounding older Asian Americans during the COVID-19 crisis, specifically in relation to the surge in anti-Asian sentiments. The following questions guide this study: What types of discourse have emerged in relation to older adults in the Asian American community and the need to support them? How do age and race interact to shape these discourses? What are the implications of these discourses for older Asian Americans? METHODS: We retrieved tweets (N=6099) through 2 search queries. For the first query, we collated tweets with the hashtag #ProtectOurElders. For the second query, we collected tweets with an age-based term, for example, "elderly" or "old(er) adults(s)" and either the hashtag #StopAAPIHate or #StopAsianHate. Tweets were posted from January 1, 2020, to August 1, 2023. After applying the exclusion criteria, the final data set contained 994 tweets. Inductive and deductive approaches informed our qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: A total of 4 themes emerged, with 50.1% (498/994) of posts framing older Asian Americans as "vulnerable and in need of protection" (theme 1). Tweets in this theme either singled them out as a group in need of protection because of their vulnerable status or discussed initiatives aimed at safeguarding their well-being. Posts in theme 2 (309/994, 31%) positioned them as "heroic and resilient." Relevant tweets celebrated older Asian Americans for displaying tremendous strength in the face of attack or described them as individuals not to be trifled with. Tweets in theme 3 (102/994, 10.2%) depicted them as "immigrants who have made selfless contributions and sacrifices." Posts in this section referenced the immense sacrifices made by older Asian Americans as they migrated to the United States, as well as the systemic barriers they had to overcome. Posts in theme 4 (85/994, 8.5%) venerated older Asian Americans as "worthy of honor." CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 crisis had the unintended effect of garnering greater support for older Asian Americans. It is consequential that support be extended to this group not so much by virtue of their perceived vulnerability but more so in view of their boundless contributions and sacrifices.

Youth is Prized in Medicine, Old Age is Valued in Law: Analysis of Media Narratives Over 200 Years.

BACKGROUND: This is the first study to explore how age has influenced depictions of doctors and lawyers in the media over the course of 210 years, from 1810 to 2019. The media represents a significant platform for examining age stereotypes and possesses tremendous power to shape public opinion. Insights could be used to improve depictions of older professionals in the media. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand how age shapes the portrayals of doctors and lawyers. Specifically, it compares the difference in sentiments toward younger and older doctors as well as younger and older lawyers in the media over 210 years. METHODS: Leveraging a 600-million-word corpus of American media publications spanning 210 years, we compiled top descriptors (N=478,452) of nouns related to youth × occupation (eg, younger doctor or physician) and old age × occupation (eg, older lawyer or attorney). These descriptors were selected using well-established criteria including co-occurrence frequency and context relevance, and were rated on a Likert scale from 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive). Sentiment scores were generated for "doctor/physician," "young(er) doctor/physician," "old(er) doctor/physician," "lawyer/attorney," "young(er) lawyer/attorney," and "old(er) lawyer/attorney." The scores were calculated per decade for 21 decades from 1810 to 2019. Topic modeling was conducted on the descriptors of each occupation in both the 1800s and 1900s using latent Dirichlet allocation. RESULTS: As hypothesized, the media placed a premium on youth in the medical profession, with portrayals of younger doctors becoming 10% more positive over 210 years, and those of older doctors becoming 1.4% more negative. Meanwhile, a premium was placed on old age in law. Positive portrayals of older lawyers increased by 22.6% over time, while those of younger lawyers experienced a 4.3% decrease. In the 1800s, narratives on younger doctors revolved around their participation in rural health care. In the 1900s, the focus shifted to their mastery of new medical technologies. There was no marked change in narratives surrounding older doctors from the 1800s to the 1900s, though less attention was paid to their skills in the 1900s. Narratives on younger lawyers in the 1800s referenced their limited experience. In the 1900s, there was more focus on courtroom affairs. In both the 1800s and 1900s, narratives on older lawyers emphasized their prestige, especially in the 1900s. CONCLUSIONS: Depending on the occupation, one's age may either be seen as an asset or a liability. Efforts must be expended to ensure that older professionals are recognized for their wealth of knowledge and skills. Failing to capitalize on the merits of an older workforce could ultimately be a grave disservice not only to older adults but to society in general.