Attitudes toward Youth as a Function of Adult Age: A Multivariate Study in Intergenerational Dynamics

Abstract

This study explores the social attitudes of three groups of adult males-young adult, middle-aged, and elderly-toward three, present-day youth groups (young people today, our boys in Vietnam, college students). Utilizing a semantic differential measure of attitude and testing for adult age group differences in attitudes toward the young, the study establishes that young adults are least accepting of youth, that elderly males are most accepting, and that middle-aged males assume an intermediate position between the other two age groups. These results suggest that acceptance of youth is a linearly increasing function of age. It was further observed that the subjects of this study, irrespective of their position on the adult age range, are significantly more positively inclined toward the young military in Vietnam than they are toward the generalized young or to college students. The latter receive the least favorable attitudinal ratings. The authors discuss a number of possible interpretations of the results obtained.