College Student Views of the Elderly: Some Gender Differences.
Four hundred and forty-one undergraduates at a large southeastern university completed a confidential anonymous 38-item questionnaire designed to assess student attitudes toward the elderly. The data revealed several significant gender differences including the age at which a person becomes "old" (men select a younger age), strength (men see less decline in strength), reaction time (women see less decline in reaction time) and the perception of the elderly as "dangerous" drivers (women see the elderly as less dangerous). Limitations of the data are suggested. ********** "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made" wrote Robert Browning. The last of life has been the subject of considerable research (Perren et al. 2003; Gierveld and Peeters, 2003; Kulik 2002; Furstenberg, 2002; Floyd and Weiss, 2001; Dollinger, 2001). In addition, researchers (Chamberlain et al., 1977) have studied attitudes toward the elderly held by children. These attitudes tend to be negative (the elderly are associated with canes, wrinkles, and traditional clothing) but become more positive when children are exposed to positive contexts/priming (Hoe and Davidson, 2002). Research by Sung (2002) on college students and the elderly identified various expressions of respect toward the elderly (e.g. providing care respect, linguistic respect, etc.). Another study on college students asked them to estimate what they would be like as an elderly person at age 76 (Mosher-Ashley and Ball 1999). In an attempt to add to this body of literature, the current study examined gender differences among college students on their view of the elderly. Data and Analysis The data consisted of 441 undergraduates enrolled at a large southeastern university who voluntarily completed an anonymous 38-item questionnaire designed to assess college student views of the elderly. Among the respondents, 73.2% were women; 26.8% were men. The age of the respondents ranged from 17 to 49 with a median age of 19. Most (82.6%) of the respondents were white, 14.2% were African-American and 3.3% identified themselves as "other." Data analysis consisted of recoding Likert responses to several items including "The elderly tend to be dangerous drivers" into the categories of agreement and disagreement. Such responses were cross-classified with sex of respondent and assessed for significance using chi-square. Findings and Discussion Analysis of the data comparing males and females in regard to their views of the elderly revealed several significant findings. 1. Men view a person becoming "old" sooner. Men were significantly (p One explanation for why men, compared to women, view individuals reaching old age faster is related to the life expectancy of men and women. White males born in 2005 are expected to die, on average, about six years sooner than white females (74.5 vs. 81.1). For African-American males and females, the average is close to seven years (69.9 vs. 76.8) (Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2002 Table 91.) Since men are likely to die sooner, and since advancing age is associated with death, it is not surprising that men see themselves as getting older sooner. In contrast, women, who live longer, see themselves becoming old "later." 2. Men view fewer declines in physical strength of the elderly. …