Negative Views Of Aging Research Articles

Comparing Social Work and Non-Social Work Students' Attitudes About Aging

This paper presents the results from a comprehensive study of aging attitudes among 97 social work students and 80 non-social work students at a mid-sized university in south central Pennsylvania. Overall, students had moderately negative views of aging and expressed little desire to work with older adults. Non-social work students possessed significantly higher knowledge about aging; no other group differences were found. Demographic, individual, mental health, and professional characteristics were significantly related to attitudes about aging and desire to work with older adults. Implications for curricular changes and out-of-class volunteer experiences to improve students' perceptions of aging and older adults are discussed.

Reflections of the Aging Caesar: Drama as Cultural Perspective

This article affirms the view that literature transmits multiple reflections on human life that shape social mores. Examining stereotypes of age in literature as socially constructed artifacts reveals the prevailing attitudes toward aging during that time. This study focuses on the aging Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and in George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. Writing 300 years apart, these two great playwrights inscribe both positive and negative models of aging, reflecting views in their eras that persist today. This article identifies these models, then explores them from a Lacanian standpoint, showing that each dramatist focuses on Caesar's ego development through the opinions of other characters. Offering a primarily negative view of aging, Shakespeare emphasizes the fragmented mirror images that other characters hold up to Caesar. Shaw self-consciously counters Shakespeare by foregrounding Caesar as subject, who beholds his aging self in the mirror of others' opinions while enacting a positive model of aging. Tracing this long tradition of aging stereotypes found in the two plays can be useful as scholars continue to reconstruct society's attitudes toward aging.

Place identification and positive realities of aging.

The concepts of place attachment and place identity inform this study of the experiences of older African Americans in a small town in the midwestern United States. Life stories collected from ordinary people remembering the past fifty years offer a view of aging which is contrary to the widely reported negative status that stems from lifelong experiences of injustice and inequality. Individuals do not see themselves in such a state. Experiences relative to identification with and the attachment to a place hold powerful memories for older people. The cumulative memories of place allow individuals to maintain a favorable self-image in spite of the contingencies of later life. This affirms a positive rather than negative view of aging in a region people call 'God's Country'.

The Subjective Experience of Aging: Correlates of Divergent Views

ABSTRACTA stratified random sample of 400 community-dwelling older persons were asked whether they like or dislike anything about being their age and if they have any worries about growing older. The results of multivariate analysis show significant relationships between the dependent variables and several respondent charaderistics including age, subjective health, expectations of older age, and gender. A negative view of aging appears to be associated with experiencing age-related declines. Overall, despite some diversity, the respondents tend to hold a positive view of old age that is coupled with a realistic appreciation of the shortcomings this stage of life may bring.