Dynamic age-group dissociation: older adults’ engagement with age stereotypes in hybrid media environments

Abstract The media portray older adults stereotypically, making it critical to study the influence of different media forms’ portrayals on age stereotypes. This study advances dynamic age-group dissociation as a novel theoretical framework, integrating social identity, self-categorization, meta-stereotype, and communication accommodation theories to explore how older Chinese adults navigate conflicting age portrayals across hybrid media ecosystems. Through in-depth interviews with 15 retirees, findings reveal that both traditional media and social media simultaneously reinforce positive and negative age-related stereotypes. Older adults actively negotiate their self-perception, selectively aligning with or distancing from these portrayals based on their lived experiences and cultural norms. These findings illuminate the intersectional influence of media on identity construction, with significant implications for communication theory.