Research Unit of Nursing Science, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Italy.
Department of Psychology, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Gerontologist. 2022 Mar 28;62(3):e150-e161. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnab023.
Ageism toward older adults, prevalent in contemporary societies, seems to be internalized during childhood and consolidated during adolescence. Although several instruments have been developed to measure adolescents' ageism, they present a number of limitations. The study aimed at developing a new instrument, the Adolescents' Ageism Toward Older Adults Scale, and testing its psychometric properties.
A three-phase process was followed: The instrument's items were developed empirically from focus groups of adolescents; its content validity was evaluated; and finally, its psychometric properties were tested through a multicenter cross-sectional study involving 575 adolescents.
Exploratory factor analysis of the new scale retained 33 items grouped into 6 factors: moodiness, traditionalism, physical deterioration, antitechnologism, sageness, and sociability. Confirmatory factor analysis evidenced a second-order factor structure. Omega coefficients measuring internal consistency were above the cutoff of 0.60 for the 6 factors except for antitechnologism. Intraclass correlation coefficients for the entire scale and for the 6 factors were greater than 0.70, again excepting antitechnologism.
The Adolescents' Ageism Toward Older Adults Scale is a promising measure of adolescents' negative and positive attitudes toward older adults. Its validation highlighted some criticalities that can be resolved by a few modifications. Further testing of the scale should be conducted after these modifications.
在当代社会，针对老年人的年龄歧视似乎在儿童时期就已经内化，并在青少年时期得到巩固。尽管已经开发出几种测量青少年年龄歧视的工具，但它们存在许多局限性。本研究旨在开发一种新的工具，即《青少年对老年人的年龄歧视量表》，并测试其心理测量学特性。
采用三阶段法：通过青少年焦点小组得出该工具的项目；评估其内容效度；最后，通过一项涉及 575 名青少年的多中心横断面研究测试其心理测量学特性。
对新量表的探索性因子分析保留了 33 个项目，分为 6 个因子：情绪不稳定、传统主义、身体恶化、反技术主义、智慧和社交性。验证性因子分析表明存在二阶因子结构。除反技术主义外，6 个因子的内部一致性 ω 系数均高于 0.60 的临界值。整个量表和 6 个因子的组内相关系数均大于 0.70，除反技术主义外。
《青少年对老年人的年龄歧视量表》是一种测量青少年对老年人消极和积极态度的有前途的工具。其验证突出了一些可以通过一些修改来解决的关键问题。在进行这些修改后，应进一步测试该量表。
