DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE FAMILIAL AGEISM SCALE

Abstract Researchers have found a tie between family relationships and the physical and mental health outcomes of older adults (Kelly et al., 2017; Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010). Researchers have also established the negative impact of ageism on the physical and mental health of older adults (Chang et al., 2020; Lyons et al., 2018). However, studies studying the impact of ageism perpetuated by family members is relatively unexplored. This may be due to a lack of measures to assess ageism perpetuated by family members specifically. To address this gap, the goal of the current study was to design a tool to measure experiences with familial ageism. Scale items were created based on the review and analysis of qualitative data on this topic (Walker & Kinkade, in prep). Items were reviewed by scholars for content and clarity. Two studies were then conducted to develop and validate our measure to assess experiences with ageism within the family context. In the first study, 151 participants completed the familial ageism items. The factor structure, convergent and divergent validity of the items were examined. We found evidence of strong psychometric properties for five related, but unique, factors in the retained items: Benevolent Ageism, Technological Competency, Out of Touch, Aging Appearance, and General Competence. Construct, convergent, and divergent validity was supported with small to large correlations with scales measuring general ageism, depression, and ego integrity. A second study with 282 participants confirmed the five-factor structure. Implications and recommendations for scale utilization will be discussed.