Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Public Health 2251-6085 48 4 2019 04 16 673 680 Herbert Rubens KOCH FILHO School of Life Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Luiza Foltran de Azevedo KOCH School of Health Sciences, Rua Professor Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza 5300, 81280-330, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Solena Ziemer KUSMA School of Medicine, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Sérgio Aparecido IGNÁCIO School of Life Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Simone Tetu MOYSÉS School of Life Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Luciana Ribeiro Azevedo ALANIS School of Life Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Marilisa Carneiro Leão GABARDO School of Health Sciences, Rua Professor Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza 5300, 81280-330, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Samuel Jorge MOYSÉS School of Life Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil 2019 04 16 Background: The gerontoism, a neologism adopted here, is a form of discrimination regarding age and can occur in rational, emotional, and behavioral contexts, and could be influenced by many factors. This study aimed to identify if the social support and the family functionality interfere in the self-perception of gerontoism. Methods: Participants were 376 elderly in good physical and mental condition. They participated in the Group Living organization in the Municipality of Curitiba, State of Paraná, Brazil, in 2012.  Information was collected about sociodemographic profile using a structured questionnaire. The social support, the family functionality, and the self-perception of gerontoism were defined by the Medical Outcomes Study, the Family APGAR index, and Ageism Survey, respectively. The variables were analyzed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient, One Way ANOVA, Tukey’s HSD test, and the Student’s t-test. Results: Most of the participants came from small cities from the interior (48.7%), were female (94.4%), with age ranging 60-69 yr-old (45.5%), whites (76.1%), widowers (47.1%), with children (93.9%), with low schooling (55.3%), with family income from 1-2 minimum wage (31.4%), and retirees not working (44.1%). It was not observed correlation between sociodemographic variables and self-perception of gerontoism. Statistical significance was observed between self-perception of gerontoism and social support (r= -0.26, P=0.00), and between the self-perception and family functionality (r = -0.28, P=0.00). Once the scores of self-perception of gerontoism increased, the ones from social support and family functionality, decreased. Conclusion: Lower self-perception of gerontoism was observed in elderly with higher social support and family functionality.     https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/16858 https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/download/16858/6354