EVALUATION OF INFANTILIZING INTONATION AND CONTENT OF SPEECH DIRECTEDAT THE AGED

Infantilization was investigated in a sample of thirty-five elderly ad ults, both community residents (N = 18) and residents of institutions (N = 17). Respondents were presented with materials designed to elicit ratings of adult and infantilized speech content and intonation on th e dimensions of ''likeability,'' ''equality of treatment,'' and ''degr ee of respect'' Community and institutionalized elders rated adult spe ech in an equivalent fashion. However, community residents were more n egative in their ratings of infantilizing speech content and intonatio n compared to their ratings of adult speech than were institutionalize d elders. The negative regard that community elders had for infantiliz ing speech was particularly pronounced for intonation. Furthermore, co mmunity elders appeared particularly resentful of infantilizing speech intonation on the dimension of respect. There was no evidence to supp ort the contention that infantilizing speech is high in nurturance. Ad ding to the findings of Ryan and co-workers, it appeared important to differentiate between infantilizing content and intonation, as the inf antilizing intonation produced a more pronounced negative reaction tha n did infantilizing content among community elders.