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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Elderly people's attitudes and perceptions of aging and old age
— the role of cognitive dissonance? | | Author(s) | Pnina Ron |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 22, no 7, July 2007 |
| Pages | pp 656-662 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com |
| Keywords | Older people ; Young people ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Attitude ; Ageing process ; Social surveys ; Israel. |
| Annotation | 388 older Israelis aged 65-92 were sampled for the purpose of analysing and comparing their attitude and perceptions of old age and ageing, in the present, to their attitudes and perceptions of these two concepts in the past. The research tool comprised, first, a short demographic questionnaire relating to gender, age, origin, family status and subjective health definition; and a second part which was essentially qualitative in which subjects were asked via an "interviewer" to reply to an identical question relating to two different periods in their lives: in their youth (when you were a young man/woman) and today. The data received from the questionnaire were processed quantitatively (statistically) and qualitatively (content analysis). Subjects' attitudes were categorised into six different typologies which were identified on a continuum: older people whose attitude towards old age and ageing was negative both in the present and in the past were at one end of the continuum. Those with a positive attitude to old age both in their youth and in the present were positioned at the opposite end of the continuum. Negative attitudes were more prominently described by powerful words (e.g. "fear", "disgust") than positive attitudes were described by the subjects ("splendour" and "glory" being exceptions). A significant correlation was found between subjects whose attitudes towards old age in the present were negative and those who subjectively defined their health as bad. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-071113209 A |
| Classmark | B: SB: TOB: DP: BG: 3F: 7H6 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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