Kogan's Attitudes Research Articles

Attitudes toward the elderly and toward the mentally ill.

In an attempt to explore similar underlying components of attitude toward the elderly and the mentally ill, college undergraduates (183 males, 146 females) were administered Kogan's Attitudes toward Old People Scale, Cohen and Struening's Opinions about Mental Illness Scale, and an experimental scale measuring endorsement of deteriorative aspects of mental illness. A stepwise multiple-regression analysis indicated that the Authoritarianism factor, relative to the other factors and the deterioration scale, accounted for the overwhelmingly greater proportion of variance in Old People scores. Analyses of covariance showed that females scored higher on the Old People Scale and Mental Hygiene Ideology factor and lower on Authoritarianism.

Attitudes toward the Aged and Frequency of Thoughts about Death

130 subjects attending an institute on death and dying completed Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People scale and a list of items designed to indicate their frequency of thoughts about death. No correlation (.03) was found between scores on the two instruments. The pattern of scores for subjects for the variable of years of education was consistent with earlier research.

Attitudes toward the aged as a function of race and social class.

ABSTRACT Studies have indicated that subjects with more years of education show a positive attitude toward older persons. The present study investigated the effects of other variables,r in this case race and social class, in relationto attitudes toward older persons. A sample group of high school juniors and seniors whose ages ranged from 16 to 18 were given a questionnaire based on the Kogan Attitudes Toward Old People Scale. The subjects consisted of 48 blacks and 5O whites; 46 belonged to the lower income class and 52 to the middle income class. The results of the-study showed almost no effect on attitudes toward older people based on race and social. class. Combining data from this study with a previous study giving a total of-194 subjects showed a relationship between number of years of education and a more positive attitude towards the elderly. The tabulated scores and a list of references are included. (pc) ;