Women who watch TikTok videos of others who don’t care about their gray hair or smile lines feel more positive about their own aging the more they watch them, which could affect a woman’s ability to age in the future, a new UConn study finds.
“For almost as long as television, movies, and print media have existed, at least as long, women have been held to different standards of beauty than men, penalizing them even into old age if they don’t have smooth skin and perfectly highlighted hair,” said Amanda Cooper, assistant professor of interpersonal communication at UW.
“Anti-aging messages, especially when it comes to beauty care, have been in the spotlight for a long time,” she says.
Historically, older men have been called “silver foxes,” while gray-haired women have been called “old ladies.” This double standard in aging has existed for a long time, but now it’s expanding, not just for older women, but for younger women as well. ”
Amanda Cooper, University of Connecticut
Cooper and his co-authors, University of Wisconsin graduate students Lexi McNamara and Heather Gahler, say they were stunned when they first started learning on social media that women in their 20s were using anti-aging products and promoting dermatological procedures to erase signs of aging on young faces.
Cooper says that while plastic surgery was once primarily reserved for middle-aged people, more teenagers are now turning away from minimal wrinkles.
“I don’t want to blame everything on social media, but I think our constant consumption of media has made them more likely to hear anti-aging messages that were previously directed at older women. I don’t know if I can completely prove it, but I think that’s what’s changing. Younger women seem to be more aware of their aging and more concerned about how to age in the right way or to make sure they don’t look old at all.”
Cooper said she began exploring the positive aging movement several years ago after reading an article on TikTok about it. This movement is characterized by mainly middle-aged and older women posting videos about the positive aspects of aging.
She says hashtags like #GrayHairDontCare bring up videos of glowing women talking about how much they love their gray hair. Other similar searches yield videos about how feet at the corners of the eyes are just evidence of a life full of joy and laughter.
The research team began to wonder if watching these videos might have some effect. Their study – “Investigating the Effects of Viewing Positive Aging TikTok Videos on Aging Outcomes and Attitudes in Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Women” was published last month in the journal communication research – Tried to test that question.
When you move the dial
Groups of women, identified as young, middle-aged, and older, watched videos of women promoting the positivity of aging and talking about travel. Next, a question was asked about their feelings about aging. “What concerns do you have about aging?” Do you feel negative or positive feelings about it? How confident are you that you will age well?
“We found that women who watched these positive aging reels had increased positive feelings about aging. Compared to a control group who watched travel videos, they felt more positive about aging and felt more confident in their ability to age well,” Cooper says. “This means that watching videos of older women talking positively about aging can change how women feel about their ability to age, at least somewhat.”
The research team theorizes that just having positive aging role models can be enough to influence people to change their own thinking. Cooper says people may feel more at ease with the idea that if other people look good in gray hair, maybe they will too.
All three age groups of women in the study were affected by positive aging videos, but the middle-aged and older subgroup was more affected, which may be because aging is more prominent in their lives, she notes.
“Of course, there are moments of panic about aging, but when you see examples of women successfully aging and hear positive messages, you feel more confident,” Cooper says.
“It’s important to change the way we think about aging because women reinforce negative messages about aging and punish each other,” she continues. “Our society as a whole does this, but it also happens on a micro level. If we can foster a positive communication environment, we can help women feel better about their aging.”
The study also notes that positive aging videos led to other mindset changes in viewers. Viewers generally had more positive feelings toward older people.
Cooper said this is an exciting finding and could potentially have a significant impact on reducing ageism and prejudice against older people.
“We need to create more content that celebrates the markers of aging and gives women permission to age, whether it’s stories of gray hair or wisdom gained,” Cooper says. “My call to content creators is to create more messages that make this happen. Create more content that features older women and messages about aging as a meaningful and winning experience.”
sauce:
University of Connecticut
Reference magazines:
Cooper, R.A. others. (2026). Positive Aging To investigate the impact of viewing TikTok videos on aging outcomes and attitudes among young, middle-aged, and older women. communication research. DOI: 10.1177/00936502261442688. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00936502261442688.
