Attitudes of Young People to Ageing and the Elderly

Abstract

Throughout the research of the National Council for the Aged, various \ncommon themes emerge. One of these is the need for attitudinal \nchange . \nIn studies of elderly residents in rural and suburban neighbourhoods, \nthose interviewed have revealed their attitudes towards themselves and \ntheir perceptions of the attitudes of the community towards them. This \nstudy represents, however, the first attempt by the Council to identify \nthe views of ageing and. the elderly held by any other particular age \ngroup. \nWhy did we choose young people of school-leaving age as the category \nto be studied? It was because of the realisation that the community in \nwhich they will spend their adult lives will contain an increasingly large \nproportion of people over sixty-five years of age. Their attitudes to the \nolder generation and to the process of ageing itself will be an important· \nfactor in the shaping of national policies. For this reason, we are anxious \nto .promote the design of an educational programme which will help \nyoung people to come to terms with the ageing process and develop \npositive attitudes towards the role that elderly people are capable of \nplaying in the community. The study was carried out as a means towards \nthis end and was visualised as part of the process of education of some \nyoung people in their appreciation of age and the process of ageing \nrather than as an end in itself.

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