ACCEPTANCE OF GENETIC TESTING IN A GENERAL-POPULATION - AGE, EDUCATION AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

The aim of the study was to analyze effects of age, education and gend er on acceptance of genetic testing. Subjects, n = 1967 aged 15-69, we re a stratified random sample of the Finnish population. One thousand, one hundred and sixty nine subjects, 530 men and 639 women, returned the questionnaire. The majority of the respondents approved of the ava ilability of genetic testing. Young, aged 15-24, were more favourable towards testing and more willing to undergo suggested tests, but they were also more worried than others about the misuse of test results. M en aged 45-69 with only basic education were more in favour of mandato ry genetic testing than other respondents. Respondents with university education were more critical towards genetic testing and expressed th eir worry about eugenics more often than other education groups. In co nclusion, there are age, education and gender related differences in a cceptance of genetic testing which need to be taken into account when considering screening programmes and informing the public. (C) 1997 El sevier Science Ireland Ltd.