Development of an Inventory to Measure Attitudes of Adolescents Toward the Elderly

The initial intent of the study was to measure adolescent attitudes toward the elderly by using an inventory that had previously been developed by authorities in the field. As a result of clarifying attitudes toward the elderly, innovative and successful classroom experiences to change any negative attitudes toward the aged could be developed. No satisfactory inventory could be found. For this reason the purpose of this study was to develop an inventory to measure attitudes of adolescents toward the elderly. An inventory of this type would help teachers to determine the feelings of students about people who are in the aged stage of the family life cycle. It could be of help diagnostically with in measuring changes in attitudes toward the aged. It could be used as an aid in classroom teaching as well as in further research in this area. An inventory was desired which would be easily comprehended by adolescents, adequate in length for use in classes, reliable, and which authorities in the field would judge to be valid. A supplementary purpose of the study was to test hypotheses concerning the relationship of scores on the inventory to age, sex, and amount of contact time the adolescent had had with the elderly person