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Assessment of the refined aging semantic differential: recommendations for enhancing validity
- Authors:
- GONZALES Ernest, TAN Jing, MORROW-HOWELL Nancy
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 53(4), May 2010, pp.304-318.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The Aging Semantic Differential (ASD) (Rosencranz and McNevin, 1969) is the most commonly used instrument in gerontological and geriatric education, and is designed to evaluate the stereotypical attitudes young people have toward older people. Polizzi (2003) updated the ASD with current adjectives and reduced the instrument to a single latent factor – attitude. This paper investigates the validity of this instrument and describes its strengths and weaknesses. The instrument was applied to 199 medical students, from eight universities across the United States who participated in a national pilot project – Vital Visionaries, funded by National Institute on Aging. Analysis using structural equation modelling was used. Qualitative data captured stereotypic attitudes young people have toward older adults. Structural equation modelling indexes suggest that one-factor structure had a poor fit. Qualitative analyses indicated that medical students hold multiple dimensions of stereotypic attitudes toward older adults. In conclusion, the authors 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.