Exploring college students’ attitudes toward older adults: A description of methods used by the gerontological literacy network

ABSTRACT

Recognizing the pervasiveness of negative societal attitudes toward aging and older adults is critical, as research indicates how older adults are viewed subsequently influences how they are treated. The Gerontological Literacy Network (GLN) is a multi-university collaboration established to address ingrained beliefs that underlie ageism and gerontophobia. The GLN developed a data-gathering protocol that uses drawing as a foundation to assess the gerontological literacy of college students. The protocol includes drawing what aging means, writing a paragraph describing the drawing, indicating the age at which someone is “old,” and writing words associated with “old person” and “grandma/grandpa.” Results from 1,609 protocols confirm that college students have negative views of aging as depicted in drawings of negative emotional states, illness, physical decline, and death. The presence of positive representations of aging (e.g., smiling) reveals the heterogeneity of perceptions and suggests the potential to achieve more accurate perceptions through educational interventions. This article provides an overview of the protocols and suggestions for future efforts related to gerontophobia and ageism.

KEYWORDS:

• Gerontological literacy
• ageism
• gerontophobia
• drawing
• longitudinal methods

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to Ms. Virginia Lawson for her assistance in compiling the data. Thank you to all of the participants.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. The terms gerontological illiteracy and gerontological literacy were introduced and defined in the presidential address at the annual meeting of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (Rowles, 2011).