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.
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