Helmes Edward, Pachana Nancy A
Department of Psychology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2016 Nov;16(11):1226-1230. doi: 10.1111/ggi.12613. Epub 2015 Oct 13.
Much research on attitudes towards older adults has used younger adults as participants and identified a range of negative attitudes towards older persons. Comparatively little literature has explored the attitudes of older adults themselves towards their own age cohort.
The present study explicitly compared attitudes towards other older adults from samples of 195 older adults in Australia and 172 older Canadians. Attitudinal measures included the Aging Attitudes Questionnaire (assesses older adults' attitudes toward other older adults), Fraboni Scale of Ageism (assesses younger adults' attitudes toward older adults) and the Reactions to Aging Questionnaire (assesses attitudes toward one's own aging), as well as a scale measuring knowledge of aging, the Facts on Aging Quiz, adapted for Australia and Canada. Responses on the three attitudinal measures were subjected to principal components analysis.
Two components emerged in both samples, one defined by the Reactions to Aging Questionnaire and Aging Attitudes Questionnaire scales and the second by the Fraboni Scale of Ageism scales. Regression analyses to ascertain prediction of scores on the Facts on Aging Quiz, adapted for Australia and Facts on Aging Quiz, adapted for Canada showed that only the Aging Attitudes Questionnaire scale for Physical Changes predicted scores on the Facts on Aging Quiz, adapted for Australia and no attitudes predicted Facts on Aging Quiz, adapted for Canada scores.
It appears that older adults distinguish between their own aging and aging in others. Knowledge of aging appears to be predicted only by attitudes toward physical changes. Given increasing proportions of older adults in the population, as well as increasing access to aging information available to older cohorts, continued research on how older adults view themselves and the aging process is important, and will almost certainly continue to evolve over time. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016; 16: 1226-1230.
许多关于对老年人态度的研究以年轻人作为参与者，并确定了一系列对老年人的负面态度。相对而言，很少有文献探讨老年人自身对其同龄人（即其他老年人）的态度。
本研究明确比较了澳大利亚195名老年人样本和172名加拿大老年人样本对其他老年人的态度。态度测量工具包括《衰老态度问卷》（评估老年人对其他老年人的态度）、《弗拉博尼年龄歧视量表》（评估年轻人对老年人的态度）以及《对衰老的反应问卷》（评估对自身衰老的态度），还有一个衡量衰老知识的量表，即针对澳大利亚和加拿大改编的《衰老事实测验》。对这三项态度测量工具的回答进行了主成分分析。
两个样本中均出现了两个成分，一个由《对衰老的反应问卷》和《衰老态度问卷》量表界定，另一个由《弗拉博尼年龄歧视量表》界定。为确定对澳大利亚改编版《衰老事实测验》得分以及加拿大改编版《衰老事实测验》得分的预测情况而进行的回归分析表明，只有《衰老态度问卷》中的身体变化量表能预测澳大利亚改编版《衰老事实测验》的得分，而没有任何态度能预测加拿大改编版《衰老事实测验》的得分。
老年人似乎能区分自己的衰老和他人的衰老现象。对衰老的认知似乎仅由对身体变化的态度来预测。鉴于人口中老年人比例不断增加，以及老年人群体获取衰老信息的机会增多，持续研究老年人如何看待自己和衰老过程很重要，而且几乎可以肯定的是，随着时间推移这一研究将不断发展。《老年医学与老年病学国际杂志》2016年；16: 1226 - 1230。
