An attitudinal study about old people.

A sentence completion instrument was administered to 28 elderly females and 44 young female social workers to investigate the differences and similarities in attitudes and beliefs about old people and being old. The statistical significance between the groups' responses was tested using the chi-square technique and individual cells by means of critical ratios. Eleven of the 20 stems were significant at the prescribed level and these are substantively discussed. It is suggested that awareness of the discrepant attitudes and beliefs is an important step towards reducing this dissonance.