Professional Workers' Attitudes Toward the Aged

A bstract Answers to a questionnaire by 220 respondents were classified according to occupation (social service workers, psychologists, nurses), age of the respondents, and whether or not they were working with old people. The responses showed a greater number of positive attitudes toward the aged from the professional groups who chose to work with them—44 of the 220 respondents. Within this group, the older workers manifested still more positive attitudes than did the younger workers. Among those who did not choose to work with the aged, there was no difference regarding negative stereotypes between the younger and older respondents. Nurses were the most positive in their attitudes; significantly, their work involves physical contact rather than verbal communication. Neither young nor older professional workers view the aged appropriately, although the younger ones are somewhat less negative in their attitudes. Older workers, threatened by their own advancing age, tend to overcompensate for their negative attitudes, especially in regard to intellectual functioning. In general, positive experiences create positive attitudes, and negative experiences negative attitudes.