COLLEGE STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD ELDERLY PERSONS

Abstract

College students’ attitudes toward elderly persons were ascertained using a convenience sample of 420. Instrumentation consisted of a 20‐item semantic differential scale developed by Sanders, Montgomery, Pittman, and Balkwell (1984). Using the semantic differential format, the respondents evaluated elderly persons in three target age groups, separated by gender. The research questions in this study were as follows: (a) What are college students’ attitudes toward a target population of male and female elderly categorized as the young old (65‐74), the old old (75‐99), and centenarians (100+)? (b)Are there differences in attitudes based on gender, size of home community, or experience with older persons? Repeated measures analysis of variance were conducted to assess whether there were differences in attitudes toward the three age categories of elderly targets. Results indicated that significant gender differences existed. Male respondents viewed female elderly targets in all age groups significantly more negatively than did female respondents. They also viewed male targets in the 65‐74 age category more negatively than did female respondents. Implications for social work practice and future research are discussed.