Attitudes Toward the Aged as a Function of Age and Education

Groups of students and practitioners in service delivery to the aged completed Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People scale as part of a continuing study, and results were compared by age and education of subjects. It was determined that within this sample the younger and better-educated persons had significantly more positive attitudes toward the aged than did those completing this scale who had fewer years of education and were themselves older. Possible reasons for these differences in attitude are that the older persons in the sample have given more thought to the negative aspects of aging, and those with less education may have a different image of old age than the better-educated group.