The present study assessed knowledge of aging, attitudes toward aging, ageism, and contact with older adults in a sample of 271 Non-Hispanic White and African-American undergraduates. Research examining racial differences in knowledge of aging, attitudes toward aging, ageism, and contact with older adults has been sparse. Results for the current…

The present study assessed knowledge of aging, ageism, and attitudes toward aging in undergraduate recreation and law enforcement majors. Past research with psychology, social work, and nursing majors showed that greater knowledge of aging was related to fewer ageist attitudes and beliefs. The results showed that law enforcement students possessed…

As the population ages, so does the number of older patients encountered by paramedics. It is vital that paramedics are adequately prepared to meet the unique and growing needs of these patients. Experience and education play key roles in the formation of attitudes that impact behavior, and ultimately patient care. The aim of this study was to…

Intergenerational interactions have demonstrated some success at improving attitudes of college students toward older adults. This quasiexperimental study involved undergraduate college students paired with older adults for a six-week e-mail exchange. Student attitudes toward older adults were measured pre- and posttest with Polizzi's revised…

According to gerontological thought, an important part of senior citizens' disabilities are products of their social exclusion rather than factors associated with their physical or mental health. How these exclusions come about was the purpose of the research reported in this article. The study was conducted among 682 Chilean university students…

Review of studies using the Aging Semantic Differential to measure attitudes toward the elderly identified problems: familiarity and variety of objects, men-only design, and age of the instrument. Ways to refine it include updating adjectives and their positions, identifying attitudinal objects, and accounting for gender differences. (SK)

Results of the Aging Semantic Differential completed by 142 undergraduates showed significant attitude differences related to descriptions of "old,""elderly," and "ages 70-85." Attitudes were significantly more positive regarding the 70-85 category. Results suggest that using stereotypical language during the research process creates bias in…

Sophomore (n=31) and senior (n=24) gerontology students completed the Aging Semantic Differential at the beginning of the semester and after conducting life-history interviews with older adults. Significant positive attitude changes resulted; the interviews were specifically cited as influencing changes. (Contains 33 references.) (SK)

Two methods for training health professionals to work on interdisciplinary gerontology teams are structured journals in which students record observational, theoretical, and methodological notes during experiential learning and team development inventory, which uses a semantic differential format to measure reactions and attitudes to working as a…

General practitioners (GPs) need advanced skills in geriatric assessment to be competent to treat the increasing number of elderly patients. Continuing medical education in geriatrics for GPs is heterogeneous, and not assessed for effectiveness. In this study we compared the educational effects of three geriatric post-graduate training methods on…

A semantic differential technique was used to compare the attitudes of 70 adolescents and 65 young adults toward the aged. The Instrumental-Ineffective dimension illustrated that the adolescent population demonstrated a more favorable attitude toward the aged than did the young adults. (Author)

Using an updated version of the Aging Semantic Differential, 534 younger, middle age, and older participants from a college community rated female and male targets categorized as ages 21-34 and 75-85. Participants also provided views about their own aging. Repeated measures of analysis of variance examined attitudinal differences by age and gender…