ATTITUDES OF AUSTRALIAN DENTAL STUDENTS TOWARDS THE ELDERLY

The attitudes of Sydney dental students towards elderly persons was studied using a semantic differential questionnaire developed by Rosencranz and McNevin in 1969. U.S. dental students from two Universities were used as a comparison group. The control age group was the attitude of the students towards persons aged 32 years. Knowledge about ageing was also obtained from the study population through the use of Palmore's (1977) Facts on Aging Quiz. Analysis of the data indicated that the Sydney dental students viewed persons aged 32 as being less independent and autonomous than did their U.S. counterparts. However they also saw persons aged 65 and over BS more ineffective, less autonomous and less personally effective than the U.S. students. The Sydney students were significantly less well informed about ageing than the U.S. dental students as measured by the number of correct answers on the Facts on Aging Quiz. The possible meaning of these findings is discussed and some explanations suggested.