Age is an attitude, not a number: The change in perceptions of college students about aging.
Location
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis Presentation (Archived)
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Jennifer Zorotovich
Faculty Mentor Email
jzorotovich@georgiasouthern.edu
Presentation Year
2020
Start Date
30-11-2020 12:00 AM
End Date
30-11-2020 12:00 AM
Keywords
Georgia Southern University, Honors Program, Virtual Symposium, Jennifer Nelson
Description
“Ageism is an untrue assumption that chronological age should be the main determinant of human characteristics and that one age group is better than another” (Cavannaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015, p. 31). Even though America is currently undergoing population aging, ageism is still experienced by 77% of adults (Novak, 2012). Although there has been an abundance of research on the outcomes of ageism (Burnes, et al., 2019; Kallio & Thomas, 2019, Scott, 2019) not as much attention has been given to strategies to combat ageism. The current study compared qualitative feedback from two groups of college students at the completion of a service learning endeavor. One group of students interacted with frail older adults and the other group interacted with active older adults. Analysis included thematic framework (Lindsay, 2019) of qualitative data to explore group differences on perceptions toward aging between the two groups of students. A discussion of results will be presented in terms of the impact that intergenerational programming may have on ageist attitudes.
Academic Unit
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Age is an attitude, not a number: The change in perceptions of college students about aging.
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
“Ageism is an untrue assumption that chronological age should be the main determinant of human characteristics and that one age group is better than another” (Cavannaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015, p. 31). Even though America is currently undergoing population aging, ageism is still experienced by 77% of adults (Novak, 2012). Although there has been an abundance of research on the outcomes of ageism (Burnes, et al., 2019; Kallio & Thomas, 2019, Scott, 2019) not as much attention has been given to strategies to combat ageism. The current study compared qualitative feedback from two groups of college students at the completion of a service learning endeavor. One group of students interacted with frail older adults and the other group interacted with active older adults. Analysis included thematic framework (Lindsay, 2019) of qualitative data to explore group differences on perceptions toward aging between the two groups of students. A discussion of results will be presented in terms of the impact that intergenerational programming may have on ageist attitudes.
Comments
A presentation of “Age is an attitude, not a number: The change in attitudes of college students about aging.” by Jennie Nelson at the Georgia Southern University Honors Program Fall 2020 Virtual Honors Symposium. Jennie is a graduating senior with a major in Child/Fam Development and was mentored by Dr. Jennifer Zorotovich. For more information about Honors at Georgia Southern see https://georgiasouthern.edu/honors.