THE VALUE OF GERONTOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE FOR ELDERS - A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE ON AGING AND WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE

Worry influences how we perceive and interpret new information. By fil tering and distorting information to protect his or her belief systems , the worrier lowers the probability that new experience will result i n new learning and, thus, personal growth is greatly reduced. This stu dy's major concern was to investigate the relationship between knowled ge of aging and worry about the aging process among older and younger adults in. Israel. Worry adds additional difficulty to daily living, i nterferes with problem-solving ability, and lowers quality of life. Th e present study investigates the relationship between. realistic, accu rate Knowledge of the aging process and the degree of worry experience d by older adults. The findings indicate that there is a clear and con sistently significant relationship between, years of education and bot h Knowledge of aging and degree of worry about the commonly held negat ive stereotyped beliefs regarding old age. The main finding of this st udy is that knowledge of aging is consistently associated with lower w orry scores. The better educated respondents and those better informed about the facts on aging were found less vulnerable to worrisome beli efs that are inaccurate or have low probability of occurrence. The fin dings suggest the importance of increasing knowledge on aging through educational programming. Increased knowledge on aging can, provide old er persons with anticipatory socialization that can moderate stressful future events and make extreme worry an unnecessary and avoidable con dition.