You are stealing our present”: Younger people's ageism towards older people predicts attitude towards age‐based COVID‐19 restriction measures

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged to be a fertile groundfor age-based prejudice and discrimination. In particular,a growing literature investigated ageism towards olderpeople at the individual and the interpersonal level,providing evidence of its prevalence, antecedents andnegative consequences. However, less much is known onthe phenomenon at the intergroup level. To fill this gap,the present correlational research investigated the effectsof younger people’s endorsement of ageism towards olderpeople on the attitude towards COVID-19 restriction mea-sures primarily targeted to older (vs. younger) population.In the autumn of 2020, five hundred and eighty-two Italianparticipants (83.3% females;Mage=20.02,SDage=2.83)completed an online questionnaire. Results revealed thatthe younger people’s endorsement of ageism towards olderpeople increased the attribution of culpability for the sever-ity of COVID-19 restriction measures to older (vs. younger)people, which, in turn positively affected the attitudestowards older (vs. younger) people isolation and supportfor selective lockdown on older population only. The maincontributions of the study, limitations, future researchdirections, and practice implications are discussed.