The effects of an aging and older adulthood course on undergraduate students’ attitudes toward older adults: A quasi-experimental study in Türkiye

Although it is becoming increasingly vital to incorporate aging-focused curricula in universities to combat age discrimination and foster positive, inclusive attitudes toward growing older, the number of studies that rigorously examine the impact of aging courses remains limited. The sample comprised 64 seventh-semester undergraduate psychology students at a public university in Türkiye, comparing students enrolled in an ‘Aging and Older Adulthood’ course (n = 32) with a control group enrolled in a course without aging content (i.e. ‘Critical PopularPsychology,’ n = 32). At the beginning and end of the semester, participants completed Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale, the Ambivalent Ageism Scale, the Basic Empathy Scale, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. A mixed-design MANOVA revealed a significant Group × Time interaction effect on the combined dependent variables, Pillai’s Trace = .378, F(4, 59) = 8.963, p < .001, η2 = .378. Compared with those in the ‘Critical Popular Psychology’ course, students enrolled in the ‘Aging and Older Adulthood’ course reported a significant increase in positive attitudes toward older adults across the semester. These findings demonstrate that incorporating adult development and aging courses into undergraduate curricula offers significant potential for improving students’ attitudes toward older adults.