ATTITUDES TOWARD OLDER ADULTS - THE PERCEIVED VALUE OF GRANDPARENT ASA SOCIAL-ROLE

The present study examined the discrepancy between young and middle-ag ed adults' persistently negative attitudes toward older adults in gene ral and their consistently positive attitudes toward grandparents. Two hundred-twenty young and middle-aged college students completed the A ging Semantic Differential and indicated or estimated (where appropria te) the average age for three categories of older adults: old people i n general, typical (i.e., hypothetical prototypical) grandparents, and their own grandparents. A pattern of results emerged in which student s viewed older adults less positively than typical grandparents, who g enerally were viewed less positively than known grandparents. Because older people in general and typical grandparents were estimated as bei ng similar in age, the positive attitudes expressed toward typical gra ndparents may be attributed to the social role of grandparent over and above any bias against increased age. Because students were most posi tive about their own grandparents, aspects of their individual grandpa rental relationships appear to have an additional, additive effect.