Year: 1994
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study was conducted to determine if a difference in attitudes toward aging existed among middle aged women whose mother or mother-in-law varied in functional status.Data was collected August 1993 through October 1993 via a mail survey.All participants were residents of Gallatin County, Montana; all respondents were 40 to 59 years of age.The degree of functional independence of the elder mother/mother-in-law was established according to their service need: independent, recipient of community health services, or a resident in a long term care facility.A measure of the middle aged daughter/daughter-in-law's attitudes towards personal anxiety of aging, the aging of one's peers, and the aged as a group was measured by the Aging Opinion Survey (Kafer, 1981).Additionally independent variables of education, income, and self-rated health of the middle aged women were studied.Significant differences were found regarding caregivers' education level and attitude scores on all of the three scales of the Aging Opinion Survey.College educated caregivers had more positive attitudes than caregivers with high school or less education.Analysis of variance revealed interactions between income and caregiver groups on the attitude toward the aging of peers and attitude toward the aged as a group.Significant differences were identified among those caregivers rating their health status as good and those who rated their health status as fair on attitude toward personal anxiety, the aging of peers, and the aged as a group.
Author: Ann Ohlfest Johnson
Language: English
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W244096093