TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of the refined aging semantic differential
T2 - Recommendations for enhancing validity
AU - Gonzales, Ernest
AU - Tan, Jing
AU - Morrow-Howell, Nancy
N1 - Funding Information:
The research reported in this article was partly supported by the National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Oasis in sponsoring the program, Vital Visionaries. We also thank Dr. David Gillespie at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University-St. Louis, for his assistance in reviewing this article and Jason Echols, also at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, for his help with the content analysis.
Funding Information:
The assessment of this instrument took place in an intervention called Vital Visionaries (VV). VV is an intergenerational art program sponsored by Oasis and funded by the National Institute on Aging. VV connected healthy older adults with medical students for the purpose of countering negative stereotypes of older adults. The program was piloted from 2007 to 2008 in eight cities. Participants typically met for two hr on a Saturday, at a local museum, to discuss and create art in small groups or pairs. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, assessed the effects of VV on the medical students and older adults. Institutional Review Board approval was issued by Washington University in St. Louis (HRPO Number: X07-76).
PY - 2010/5
Y1 - 2010/5
N2 - The Aging Semantic Differential (ASD) by Rosencranz and McNevin (1969) is the most widely used instrument in gerontological and geriatric education to assess the stereotypic attitudes young people have toward older adults. Polizzi (2003) updated the ASD with current adjectives and reduced the instrument to a single latent factor, attitude. We examine the validity of this major instrument and describe the strengths and shortcomings. The instrument was administered to 199 medical students that participated in a national pilot project, Vital Visionaries, funded by National Institute on Aging. Confirmatory factory analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. Qualitative data captured stereotypic attitudes young people have toward older adults. SEM indexes suggest that a one-factor structure has poor fit. Qualitative analyses suggest medical students hold multiple dimensions of stereotypic attitudes toward older adults. We suggest that the latent factor, attitude, can be assessed with fewer observed items, thereby creating room for the additional latent factors. The resulting instrument could be just as short, but offer a more comprehensive assessment of young people's stereotypic attitudes toward older adults.
AB - The Aging Semantic Differential (ASD) by Rosencranz and McNevin (1969) is the most widely used instrument in gerontological and geriatric education to assess the stereotypic attitudes young people have toward older adults. Polizzi (2003) updated the ASD with current adjectives and reduced the instrument to a single latent factor, attitude. We examine the validity of this major instrument and describe the strengths and shortcomings. The instrument was administered to 199 medical students that participated in a national pilot project, Vital Visionaries, funded by National Institute on Aging. Confirmatory factory analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. Qualitative data captured stereotypic attitudes young people have toward older adults. SEM indexes suggest that a one-factor structure has poor fit. Qualitative analyses suggest medical students hold multiple dimensions of stereotypic attitudes toward older adults. We suggest that the latent factor, attitude, can be assessed with fewer observed items, thereby creating room for the additional latent factors. The resulting instrument could be just as short, but offer a more comprehensive assessment of young people's stereotypic attitudes toward older adults.
KW - Ageism
KW - Attitudes
KW - Instrument
KW - Measurement
KW - Scale
KW - Structural equation modeling
KW - The aging semantic differential
KW - Validity
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U2 - 10.1080/01634371003715791
DO - 10.1080/01634371003715791
M3 - Article
C2 - 20461618
AN - SCOPUS:77952370939
SN - 0163-4372
VL - 53
SP - 304
EP - 318
JO - Journal of Gerontological Social Work
JF - Journal of Gerontological Social Work
IS - 4
ER -