Centre for Policy on Ageing



Improving attitudes regarding the elderly population — the effects of information and reinforcement for change
Author(s)	Amie M Ragan, Anne M Bowen
Journal title	The Gerontologist, vol 41, no 4, August 2001
Pages	pp 511-515
Keywords	Young adults [20-25] ; Students ; Ageism ; Social surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	Altering negative attitudes associated with ageism may be possible by giving people accurate information about older people in conjunction with reinforcement for change. 99 college students (35 men, 63 women; mean age 20 years) participated in one of three groups: information only, information plus an innocuous discussion group, and information plus a reinforcement-to-change discussion group. Participants' attitudes toward older people were measured before, immediately after the intervention, and at a one-month follow-up. Results showed that information alone produced initial improvements in attitudes in all groups; however, only the group members who received additional reinforcement for change maintained positive attitude changes at one month follow-up. This study supports the premise that negative attitudes toward older people are amendable; however, the new attitude may be lost without reinforcement for change. (KJ/RH).
Accession Number	CPA-011008208 A
Classmark	SD6: XN: B:TOB: 3F: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.