The purpose of this research was to identify stereotypes toward the elderly held by university students. Stereotypes toward the elderly were examined at two levels: to assess students´ beliefs about the traits of older persons and to categorize the traits into stereotypes.
The main results of this study were as follows:
1) Students reported 89 traits associated with the elderly.
2) Hierarchical cluster analysis of the trait groupings revealed two high-level clusters: a cluster of 28 positive traits and a cluster of 61 negative traits. Within the positive and negative clusters, 10 middle-level categories, 3 positive categories(conventional matriarch/patriarch, an integrated life, and grandparent image), and 7 negative categories(impractical, egocentric, recluse, pessimistic, exhausted, objectless, and despondent) were identified. This results suggested that young adults believed negative stereotypes were more typical than positive one.
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