Perception of the Elderly by Youth and Seniors in Poland.

Abstract

Dear Editor-in-ChiefStatistical data from the turn of the 20th century (1) shows a significant increase in the average human life span and, what follows, an extension of age. The world is aging and Poland has joined the list of countries classified as demographically since the rate at which society is aging has become very fast.Negative stereotypes of aging affect not only the senior citizens' experience of aging but also young people's perception of it, influencing their attitude to people. It would seem that the negative perception of seniors is the basis of unsympathetic attitudes toward people and discrimination against them, the so called ageism (2).The main aim of this thesis was to become familiar with the opinions submitted by respondents regarding aging and age, health problems connected with aging and preferred health behaviors.The research was conducted between January 3rd of 2013 and February 15 of 2014, after previously obtaining permission from the ics of the Medical University in Bialystok (statute no. R-I-002/651/2012), on a group of 200 junior high school students, 200 university students from the Bialystok Medical University Faculty of Health Sciences, 200 residents of Public Nursing Homes and 200 members of Universities of the Third Age.The study used a questionnaire created by the authors concerning ascertaining the opinions about ageing and age as well as health problems connected with age, comprising of two parts and in total containing 54 questions. The data obtained was compiled using Microsoft Excel 2010. Statistical analysis was completed by applying the Chi-squared test and the proportion test with the Bonferroni correction. Statistical hypotheses were verified at the P = 0.05 significance level. Calculations were completed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics program, version 20.0.The World Health Organization (WHO) (3) considers the 60th year of life as the onset of age and within it defines three distinct stages:* from 60 to 74 years of age - the so called early age in which those described as the young-old are classified;* from 75 - 89 years of age - the late age in which the old-old are classified;* 90 years of age and more - the so called advanced age where those who have reached this stage are considered to have lived a long life. In our study participants were mostly convinced that age refers 70 years of age and older. A relatively even distribution of answers in both study groups has been recorded for the question How does age relates to age?. In the junior high school group the most common answer was 66-70 years old (29.5%) while among the Medical University student it was 71-75 years old (36%). In the group of residents of PNH the answer 71-75 years old (39.0%) was the most often given while in the group of UTA members it was 76 years or older (58.0%). An even distribution of answers was recorded concerning respect shown to the elderly by members of society. Over 41.0% of all young respondents and 44.5% of all participants were of the opinion that senior citizens are not respected by society, and a slightly lower number of participants (40. …

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