Youth's Attitudes Toward the Elderly

Abstract

This paper examines the attitudes of 35 male and 122 female college students toward six target groups of elderly individuals: males and females aged 65-74, 75-99 and 100 or older. A twenty-item semantic differential scale was used. Findings support the conclusion that the elderly are perceived as a heterogeneous group with age being an important discriminator, and with gender being less potent but, nevertheless, important. Older target groups were perceived less favorably than younger target groups, but actual values of attitude scores indicate that the least favorable means were in a neutral affect range rather than the more extreme negative range of possible scores. Finally, the effects of several characteristics of respondents on attitudes toward the elderly were examined. Only modest differences were found, suggesting that perceived differences between target groups are widely shared. Implications are discussed.A review of the literature on attitudes and perceptions of youth toward the elderly strongly suggests that the old are often viewed in a negative light (

Children's Attitudes Toward Older Adults and Aging: A Synthesis of Research

“…Scholars address an important issue surrounding how they and other adults believe youth view older adults and how children actually view older adults. Sanders, Montgomery, Pittman, and Balkwell, (1984) and Newman et al (1997) indicate that there is a gap between adults' perceptions of youth views and actual youth views of older adults. Through their study, Newman et al (1997) provided scholars information on children's views of older adults ''through the child's own values'' (p. 417).…”

Intergenerational Contact, Attitudes, and Stereotypes of Adolescents and Older People

“…A number of investigations of attitudes toward older people (see Meshel, 1997, for a complete review) have found that individuals of different ages hold mixed to negative attitudes toward older people and the aging process (e.g., Caspi, 1984;Hummert, 1990;Sanders, Montgomery, Pittman, & Balkwell, 1984;Seefeldt, 1987;Tuckman & Lorge, 1953). Seminal research examining younger persons' attitudes toward older people was conducted by Hickey, Hickey, and Kalish (1968) who asked third grade students from socioeconomically diverse schools to write a short paper describing an ''old person like your grandparents.''…”

Singapore Social Work Students: Attitudes toward Older Adults

“…Despite these phenomenal demographic changes and projections, studies of U.S. professionals and college students reveal that there is general apathy about working with older adults (Butler, 1990;Coren, Andreassi, Blood, & Kent, 1987;Shmotkin, Eyal, & Lomranz, 1992;Tan, Hawkins, & Ryan, in press). Studies indicate that overall attitudes toward older adults were in the positive or neutral range, but that they were negative regarding certain specific characteristics (Hawkins, 1996;Reed, Beall, & Baumhover, 1992;Sanders et al, 1984;Tan et al, in press). A study of U.S. baccalaureate social work majors found that while their overall attitudes toward young-old women were positive, their overall attitudes toward other groups of older adults were in the neutral range.…”

“…Overall attitudinal scores ranged from 20 (for most positive) to 140 (for most negative) with scores between 70 (3.5 x 20) and 90 (4.5 x 20) being considered neutral. Sanders et al ( 1984) established the validity of the instrument. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of .83 indicates a high degree of internal consistency for the overall scale.…”

“…The instrument developed by Sanders, Montgomery, Pittman, and Balkwell ( 1984) was used to gather information about student attitudes. This instrument consists of 20 items in each of six semantic differential scales.…”