The purpose of this research was to identify stereotypes toward the elderly held by university students. Stereotypes toward the elderly were examined at two levels: to assess students` beliefs about the traits of older persons and to categorize the tr...
The purpose of this research was to identify stereotypes toward the elderly held by university students. Stereotypes toward the elderly were examined at two levels: to assess students` beliefs about the traits of older persons and to categorize the traits into stereotypes. The main results of this study were as follows: 1) Students reported 89 traits associated with the elderly. 2) Hierarchical cluster analysis of the trait groupings revealed two high-level clusters: a cluster of 28 positive traits and a cluster of 61 negative traits. Within the positive and negative clusters, 10 middle-level categories, 3 positive categories(conventional matriarch/patriarch, an integrated life, and grandparent image), and 7 negative categories(impractical, egocentric, recluse, pessimistic, exhausted, objectless, and despondent) were identified. This results suggested that young adults believed negative stereotypes were more typical than positive one.