Attitudes toward the elderly: Identifying problematic usage of ageist and overextended terminology in research instructions
Attitudes toward the elderly: Identifying problematic usage of ageist and overextended terminology in research instructions
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DOI：
10.1080/03601270290081344
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发表时间：
2002-05-01
影响因子：
1.5
通讯作者：
Millikin, RJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Polizzi, KG;Millikin, RJ
最近发现和讨论了许多关于对老年人的态度的评估问题。一个问题是，使用年龄歧视和过度延伸的术语来描述成年后期的人，特别是在试图衡量人们对这一年龄段的态度的研究中。本文认为，在研究过程中，特别是在数据收集过程中使用这种刻板印象的语言，会在成年后期对个人的态度造成偏见，并影响研究结果的准确性。以这一立场为指导，本研究的目的是揭示在数据收集过程的任何部分，特别是在研究的指导和调查问卷阶段，使用年龄歧视术语对老年人口进行刻板印象描述可能造成的差异和影响。使用Polizzi(2001年4月)对142名本科生的增龄语义差异的精炼版本，假设两个年龄歧视的描述性类别(即“老年”和“老年人”)对态度得分的贡献显著不同于“70-85岁”类别，当三个描述性类别之间发现几个显著差异时，这一假设得到支持。第二个假设指出，与其他两个类别的人相比，态度得分对“70-85岁”类别的人的积极程度要高得多。这一假设也得到了支持。被称为“老年”的描述性类别被认为是最不被正面评价的群体，而“70-85岁”这一类别被认为是最正面的。结论是，年龄歧视的语言确实对态度得分有影响。研究结果的意义，以及对未来研究的建议，都被引用。
Many problems have recently been identified and discussed concerning the assessment of attitudes toward the elderly. One problem is the use of ageist and overextended terminology to describe people in late adulthood, particularly in research studies that have attempted to measure attitudes toward that age segment. The present paper posits that using such stereotypical language during the research process, especially during the data gathering process, creates bias in attitudes toward individuals in late adulthood and affects the accuracy of results obtained from those studies. With that position as a guide, the purpose of this study was to uncoverpossible differences and effects that stereotypical descriptions of the elderly population may cause by using ageist terminology in any part of the data gathering process, specifically during the instruction and questionnaire phases of the study. Using Polizzi's (April, 2001) refined version of the Aging Semantic Differential on a sample of 142 undergraduate students, it was hypothesized that the two ageist descriptive categories (i.e., "old" and "elderly") would contribute to significantly different attitude scores than the "70-85 years of age" category, This hypothesis was supported when several significant differences were found among the three descriptive categories. A second hypothesis stated that attitude scores would be significantly more positive toward people in the "70-85 years of the age" category than the other two categories. This hypothesis was also supported. The descriptive category known as "old" was the least positively viewed group, while the "70-85 years of age" category was viewed the most positively. It was concluded that ageist language does indeed have an effect on attitude scores. Implications of the findings, as well as recommendations for future research, are cited.