title: Impact of life stories on college students' positive and negative attitudes toward older adults.
abstract: Gerontological educators are increasingly interested in reducing college students' negative, and promoting their positive, attitudes toward older adults. Over the course of a semester, students from six 4-year institutions viewed three life story videos (documentaries) of older adults and completed pre- and posttest surveys that assessed their positive (Allophilia Scale) and negative (Fraboni Scale of Ageism) attitudes. The authors assessed changes in attitudinal scales between treatment (with videos, n = 80) and control (no video, n = 40) groups. Change score analysis with 95% bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals estimated the effects of the documentaries on students' attitudes. The treatment group showed significant increases in kinship, engagement, and enthusiasm, and decreases in antilocution and avoidance (all ps <.05). There was no significant change in affect, comfort, or discrimination. This study demonstrated how video stories impact students' attitudes about older adults.
authors.affiliation: a University of Nevada , Department of Sociology , Las Vegas , Nevada , USA.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.affiliation: b Department of Sociology and Gerontology & Scripps Gerontology Center , Miami University , Oxford , Ohio , USA.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: b Department of Sociology and Gerontology & Scripps Gerontology Center , Miami University , Oxford , Ohio , USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kinney
authors.affiliation: c Institute of Gerontology, University of Georgia , Athens , Georgia , USA.
authors.forename: Leonard W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Poon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D063506:Ageism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitudes (positive and negative); college students; documentaries; gerontological pedagogy; life stories videos