EFFECTS OF AGE AND INTERPERSONAL CONTACT ON STEREOTYPING OF THE ELDERLY

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the age of an individual, the type of contact an individual has with the e lderly, the amount of knowledge an individual has about the elderly, a nd the extent that the individual stereotypes the elderly. In accordan ce with the Social Identity Theory and the Contact Hypothesis, stereot yping was predicted to be higher among individuals who did not identif y with nor have contact with the elderly. Fifty young (18-25 years of age) and fifty elderly (64-79 years of age) participants completed sur veys measuring their level of contact with the elderly, knowledge abou t aging (knowledge score), and tendency to stereotype the elderly (ste reotype score). Results of this study indicated that regardless of age , participant knowledge of aging and application of aging stereotypes were affected by the quality of contact experienced. Although the youn g participants achieved significantly higher knowledge scores than the elderly participants, there was no significant age difference in ster eotype scores for the young and elderly groups. However, as predicted, the young and elderly participants who experienced high levels of con tact with the elderly achieved higher knowledge scores and lower stere otype scores. These scores were compared to the respective scores of t he young and elderly participants experiencing low levels of contact w ith the elderly, Moreover, the elderly participants experiencing low l evels of contact with the elderly achieved lower knowledge scores than any of the other groups. Elderly participants experiencing low levels of contact with other competent elderly individuals may be more susce ptible to the negative effects of aging stereotypes and at risk for no t identifying with their own social group.