When It Comes to Older Adults, Language Matters and Is Changing: American Geriatrics Society Update on Reframing Aging Style Changes

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

In June 2017, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) adopted the American Medical Association Manual of Style including qualified recommendations for the language used to describe older people. Based on American Geriatrics Society (AGS) work with the Leaders of Aging Organizations and the FrameWorks Institute, these recommendations were grounded in building better public perceptions of aging.1 They reinforced “that words like (the) aged, elder(s), (the) elderly, and seniors should not be used . . . because [they] connote discrimination and certain negative stereotypes.”1 The journal thus adopted “older adult(s)” and “older person/people” as preferred terminology, explicitly advocating against using “the elderly,” “senior(s),” and/or “senior citizen(s).”1 In the time since this transition, JAGS has published more than 5,000 pages of scholarly output, and many leading influencers in research have adopted our recommendations as their own.2 The AGS sought to determine how these recommendations impacted word choice across a variety of forums. Articles counted once for each category regardless of the frequency with which terms appeared. Again, articles counted once for each category regardless of in-text frequency. These year-on-year trends are depicted in Figure 1. These year-on-year trends are depicted in Figure 2. Our analyses point to interesting descriptive trends worth following as the Reframing Aging movement continues to grow. At the outset, it is important to note that reframed terminology was already present across both research articles and news media, even before the transition to modified American Medical Association style at JAGS. These data are encouraging because they suggest experts are already familiar with and open to adopting preferred terms, making the transition less of an uphill battle against unfamiliar terrain. To the extent that Meltwater reflects the broader news environment, relatively little fluctuation in the use of reframed versus unframed language in news coverage over the past few years perhaps points to a lagging effect changing public discourse specifically, an expected outcome in the stepwise move toward more inclusive descriptors for any population including older adults. With Reframing Aging terminology now adopted by the many of the major style guides, future scholarship has a tremendous opportunity to explore broader changes and themes across the social sciences and life sciences, as well as how such scholarship is reported by popular media. Changes in how we think, speak, and act take time. Past FrameWorks case studies indicate it can take as long as 10 years for early recommendations like those that appeared in JAGS to be acknowledged as accurate and embraced as the norm rather than the exception.3 We are heartened to be joined by researchers, reporters, clinicians, caregivers, and older adults who are in it for the long haul, and we hope these early changes, however small, point to a rising tide that can continue to lift all ships. We thank the Leaders of Aging Organizations and the FrameWorks Institute for their work on the Reframing Aging Initiative, continued with generous funding from the Archstone Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, RRF Foundation for Aging, and The SCAN Foundation, with additional support from New Hampshire Endowment for Health, NextFifty Initiative, Rose Community Foundation, and Tufts Health Plan Foundation, and managed by the Gerontological Society of America. The Leaders of Aging Organization's previous work was funded by AARP, the Archstone Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Endowment for Health, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, The Retirement Research Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, and The SCAN Foundation. For more information, visit https://www.geron.org/programs-services/reframing-aging-initiative. Both Daniel E. Trucil and Nancy E. Lundebjerg are employees of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS). The AGS maintains JAGS and is a founding and continuing member of the Reframing Aging Initiative. Daniel S. Busso is an employee of the FrameWorks Institute that served as the research and analysis hub for the Leaders of Aging Organizations Reframing Aging Initiative. Daniel E. Trucil developed the concept, methodology, and analysis for this article. Nancy E. Lundebjerg assisted with data collection and analysis, as well as drafting the manuscript. Daniel S. Busso assisted with data analysis and provided feedback on the manuscript. None.