Dental students' attitudes about older adults: do type and amount of contact make a difference?

This study was an extension of a previous study that considered dental student attitudes about older adults. In the current study, the association of student interactions with older adults, in both the dental school clinic and daily life, with their attitudes about this group was evaluated using the Aging Semantic Differential. A total of 311 dental students across all four years of academic standing were included in the study. The results showed that students’ interactions with older adults outside the clinic did not relate to positive attitudes; however, even after controlling for the age of the student and the frequency, type of individual, and context of interactions with older adults outside the dental clinic, the number of older adult patients seen in the clinic showed a significant positive relationship with attitudes towards older adults. These results reinforce the conclusions drawn in a previous study that dental students’ general attitudes about older adults may be changed, but that it is the exposure to older adults in a clinical setting that seems to be more critical in shaping these attitudes.