Attitudes Towards the Elderly in Polish Society: Is Knowledge About Old Age and Personal Experiences a Predictor of Ageism?

Figures & data

Table 1 The Original Questionnaire “Contact with the Elderly”

Contact with the Elderly
1	Do you live or have you ever lived with an elderly person?	a) Yes
		b) No
2	Do you have contact with an elderly person in your private life?	a) Yes, I live with an elderly person
		b) Yes, several times a week
		c) Only at ceremonies
		d) Occasionally
		e) Not at all
3	Do you have contact with people over 65 at work?	a) Yes
		b) No
		c) I do not have the opportunity
4	Are you in contact with elderly people who are not family members?	a) Yes
		b) No
		c) I do not have the opportunity
5	How important are contacts with the elderly to you?	a) Very important
		b) Important
		c) It does not matter
		d) Not important

Table 2 Characteristics of Study Participants (N=923)

Sex	Number	Percentage
Female	475	51.46
Male	448	48.54
Age, yr
18–29	251	27.19
30–39	233	25.24
40–49	234	25.35
50 ≥	205	22.21
Place of residence
Village	163	17.66
<50 K	207	22.43
<100 K	159	17.23
<250 K	138	14.95
>250 K	256	27.74
Marital status
Single	158	17.12
Informal relationship	225	24.38
Married	482	52.22
S/D/W	58	6.28
Education
Elementary	28	3.03
Vocational	98	10.62
Secondary	407	44.1
Higher	390	42.25
Professional situation
At school	73	7.91
Unemployed	81	8.78
Employed	686	74.32
Pensioner	83	8.99
Annual income
0–20.999	153	16.58
21.000–40.999	220	23.84
41.000–60.999	215	23.29
61.000–80.999	151	16.36
81.000 and more	117	12.68
Refuse to answer	67	7.26

Figure 1 Posterior medians (points and blue line) of the predicted mean KAOP scores as a function of credible predictors. Vertical lines and shaded area are 95% credible intervals.

Note: KAOP and Facts of aging are shown on standardized scales. Grey transparent points show data.

Table 3 Results of Bayesian Robust Linear Regression with KAOP Score as a Dependent Variable

	Β	SE	LI	UI
Intercept	−0.1	0.07	−0.25	0.05
Sex	−0.03	0.03	−0.09	0.03
Age	0.06	0.07	−0.08	0.21
Place of residence	−0.01	0.06	−0.12	0.1
Marital status - Single	−0.11	0.08	−0.27	0.05
Marital status - Informal relationship	−0.11	0.08	−0.27	0.04
Marital status - Married	−0.15	0.12	−0.37	0.09
Education	−0.08	0.08	−0.24	0.08
Professional status (at school)	−0.23	0.09	−0.4	−0.06
Professional status (unemployed)	0.19	0.07	0.05	0.33
Professional status (employed)	−0.06	0.05	−0.17	0.04
FAQ	−0.34	0.03	−0.39	−0.29
Living with an elderly person	0.03	0.03	−0.03	0.09
Personal contacts with elderly people	−0.02	0.09	−0.2	0.15
Professional contacts with elderly people (yes)	−0.04	0.04	−0.12	0.04
Professional contacts with elderly people (no)	0.07	0.04	−0.01	0.14
Contacts with elderly people outside the family (yes)	−0.05	0.04	−0.13	0.03
Contacts with elderly people outside the family (no)	−0.07	0.04	−0.15	0.01
Relevance of contacts with elderly people	1.03	0.1	0.83	1.22
Σ	0.65	0.03	0.6	0.71
Ν	5.02	0.89	3.63	7.06
Bayesian R^2	0.26	0.02	0.22	0.3

Notes: β and SE are posterior mean and standard error of the mean, respectively. LI and UI are lower and upper boundaries of the 95% credibility interval. The [n] symbol indicates the nth coefficient of a sum-to-zero contrast for a categorical predictor. Bolded rows indicate statistically credible regression weights. σ and ν are scale and normality parameters of the t distribution, respectively.