Child and Adolescent Knowledge and Attitudes About Older Adults Across Time and States

Abstract

The original P almore' s F acts on A ging Quiz was modi ed and presented to 954 elementary, middle, and high school students (grades 3, 6, 9, 12) in West V irginia and Texas. Three separate experiments were summariz ed involving the Child-A dolescent F acts on A ging Quiz (CA F A Q). Similar student responses on number of correct items and bias were noted in 1983 and 1998. A dolescents showed positive bias, but elementary school children showed negative bias toward older adults. F emale adolescents tended to show more positive bias than male adolescents. With regard to ethnicity, White adolescents answered more correct items than Hispanic adolescent students. Hispanic adolescents tended to show more negative bias than White or B lack adolescent students. No relationship between weekly contact with an older adult and accuracy or bias was observed.The authors express gratitude to Ann Wiley fo r assistance in sco ring the data in 1998. Gratitude is also expressed to Dr. Denetta Dowle and Terry Haught for assisting with the item analysis. Sinc ere thanks are also given to the princ ipals, teachers, and students of the participating scho ols.Address co rrespo ndence to Dr. Patric ia Haught, Department of Advanc ed Educational Studies, 506D A llen Hall,

Impact of Contact With Grandparents on Children's and Adolescents’ Views on the Elderly

“…Even Kwong See and Nicoladis' (2010) study on 2-to 3-year-old children showed that those with more frequent contacts with their grandparents judged the elderly more favorably in their capacity to teach the meaning of new words. However, many other studies did not find significant correlations between the frequency of youth-elderly contacts and the youth's views on the seniors (Boswell, 2012;Haught et al, 1999;Okoye, 2005).…”

“…All studies are congruent about the influence of gender on children's ageist views: Boys of all ages hold more negative visions of aging and the elderly than girls (Allan & Johnson, 2009), expressing aversion to getting old by using words such as "it is terrible" (Zandi, Mirle, & Jarvis, 1990). With regard to age, although results between studies have been divergent, they generally demonstrate a worsening of the ageist stereotypes with age in early childhood, between 4 and 7 years (Blunk & Williams, 1997;Burke, 1982), and a regression in late adolescence (Haught, Walls, Laney, Leavell, & Stuzen, 1999). In a sample of 6-to 14-year-old boys and girls, the lowest level of ageist stereotypes was found around 9-to 10-years (Lineweaver, Roy, & Horth, 2017).…”

Intergenerational contact and mediators impact ambivalence towards future selves

“…Respondents indicated aging knowledge with a 16-item Facts on Aging Quiz (Haught, Walls, Laney, Leavell, & Stuzen, 1999). Respondents indicated whether an item was true or false, and the number of correctly answered items was summed (a ¼ .36).…”

“…We suspect that the design of the scale as a multi-dimensional measure of aging knowledge results in underestimation of its reliability (Schmitt, 1996). Despite its low internal consistency, we included the scale in our analyses because it demonstrates predictive utility with a young adult population (Haught et al, 1999) and because knowledge about aging has been associated with one's attitudes towards aging (e.g., Funderburk, Damron-Rodriguez, Storms, & Solomon, 2006). We would use an alternate measure with greater reliability in a replication study before abandoning the idea that greater knowledge about an outgroup contributes to less aging selfambivalence.…”

Successful Aging

“…Specifically, attitudes about aging begin to emerge in early childhood, when older adults are perceived as a distant out-group, but as individuals proceed through the life span, their views and perceptions about aging become increasingly self-relevant and self-fulfilling (Haught, Walls, Laney, Leavell, & Stuzen, 1999;Hawkins, 1996;Scott, Minichiello, & Browning, 1998). Specifically, attitudes about aging begin to emerge in early childhood, when older adults are perceived as a distant out-group, but as individuals proceed through the life span, their views and perceptions about aging become increasingly self-relevant and self-fulfilling (Haught, Walls, Laney, Leavell, & Stuzen, 1999;Hawkins, 1996;Scott, Minichiello, & Browning, 1998).…”