Respondents in three age groups (17 to 44, 45 to 64, 65 and over) were surveyed on the connotative meanings of 10 common nouns referring to an older person. Except for the younger respondents preferring Mature American to Senior Citizen, results were very similar across age-groups. These two terms and Retired Person were rated generally positive whereas Aged, Elderly, and nouns using old were more negative. Because language can influence attitudes, care is needed in the use of terms referring to older people.
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Barbato et al. (1987) studied this question.