Perceived discrimination
(in daily activities)

Perceived discrimination (in daily activities)

LASA filenames:
LASA169

Contact: Almar Kok

Background
Perceived discrimination can be defined by an individual’s impression of being treated unfairly by others due to a personal characteristic, for example ethnicity, gender or age (Ayalon & Gum, 2011). This can occur in everyday situations, at work, in health care, and in leisure time. Perceived discrimination may act as a stressor that builds up over time, eventually taking a toll on an individual’s mental and physical health and wellbeing (Kessler et al. 1999; Farmer and Stokes, 2025). Frequent exposure to discrimination may also lead to social withdrawal and a reduction in societal engagement in order to avoid potential discriminatory situations.

Studies of perceived discrimination in daily activities focused primarily on race and ethnicity (Williams et al. 1997; Sternthal et al. 2011).  In an older population, perceived discrimination may in particular be related to age, which is also indicated as ageism. Prevalence of ageism varies by country (Bezema, 2024; Rippon, Zaninotto & Steptoe, 2015), but is generally associated with older age, poor health and lower levels of education and wealth.

Measurement instrument in LASA
At LASA waves J, K and L (the last-mentioned  wave is still under development) we included a measurement of perceived discrimination in everyday life in the medical interview. This is the short version (5 items) of the original 9-item scale developed by David R Willams (Sternthal et al. 2011; Williams et al. 1997).

Respondents were asked about the frequency of five discriminatory situations:

“In your day-to-day life, how often have any of the following things happened to you?”
1. You are treated with less respect or courtesy than other people.
2. You receive poorer service than other people in restaurants and stored.
3. People act as if they think you are not clever.
4. You are threatened or harassed.
5. You receive poorer service or treatment than other people from doctors or hospitals.

Possible response options were: almost daily(1), at least once a week(2), few times a month(3), few times a year(4), less than once a year(5), never(6). A follow-up question asked respondents to indicate what reason/s they attributed their experience in any of the five discriminatory situations. Possible options included age, gender, race, weight, sexual orientation and disability. More than one reason could be selected. Participants who attributed any experiences of discrimination to their age are treated as cases of perceived age discrimination (ageism).

Questionnaires
LASAJ169 / LASAK169 (medical interview, in Dutch)

Variable information
LASAJ169 / LASAK169 (K not available yet)
(pdf)

Availability of information per wave ¹

¹ More information about the LASA data collection waves is available here.

* 2B=baseline second cohort;
3B=baseline third cohort;
MB=migrants: baseline first cohort;
K=not available yet

Me=data collected in medical interview

Previous use in LASA
The scale of perceived discrimination has been used in a study by Nur Bezema (2024) for her master thesis Sociology. She studied the prevalence of perceived age discrimination among community-dwelling older adults, using the data from the J -Wave (n = 1308). She dichotomized the answer options of the five questions on daily experiences of discrimination (almost every day, at least once a week, few times per month (1) and combined a few times a year or never (0)). The respondents who attributed their experiences to age were treated as cases of perceived age discrimination. Among the respondents 24% (N=315) indicated that they have experienced discrimination among any of the five discriminatory situations for at least more than once within the past year. Only 7 % (N=90) of the respondents reported perceived discrimination based on age. The other 225 reported perceived discrimination due to other reasons, for example: gender, disability or other (an open answer option). The majority (76%) did not report any form of perceived discrimination. In bivariate associations the ageism-group reported higher functional limitations, more loneliness and lower mastery compared to the group with no perceived discrimination. They were also more likely to have no partner and to be over 80 years of age. In multivariate logistic regressions only the effect of mastery remained to be statistically significant.

References

1. Ayalon L. & Gum A. M . ( 2011 ). The relationships between major lifetime discrimination, everyday discrimination, and mental health in three racial and ethnic groups of older adults . Aging & Mental Health, 15, 587-94 . doi: 10.1080/13607863.2010.543664
2. Bezema, N. (2024). Perceived age discrimination among older adults in the Netherlands. Master Thesis Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
3. Farmer, H.R. and Stokes, J.E. (2025). Longitudinal Dyadic Associations Between Perceived Discrimination and Loneliness Among Midlife and Older Married Couples, The Gerontologist, 2025;, gnaf100, https://doi-org.vu-nl.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/geront/gnaf100
4. Kessler R.C., Mickelson K.D., & Williams D.R. (1999). The prevalence, distribution, and mental health correlates of perceived discrimination in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40, 208 – 30. doi: 10.2307/2676349
5. Rippon, I., Zaninotto, P., & Steptoe, A. (2015). Greater perceived age discrimination in England than the United States: results from HRS and ELSA. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 70(6), 925–33. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbv040
6. Sternthal, M., Slopen, N., Williams, D.R. (2011). Racial Disparities in Health: How Much Does Stress Really Matter?, Du Bois Review, 8(1), 95-113.
7. Williams, D.R., Yu, Y., Jackson, J.S., and Anderson, N.B. (1997). Racial Differences in Physical and Mental Health: Socioeconomic Status, Stress, and Discrimination. Journal of Health Psychology, 2(3), 335-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910539700200305

Date of last update: May, 2025 (first version)