Age discrimination: A comparative study among university students

Abstract

Different studies with university students show the presence of a negative image about the elderly and an absence of positive stereotypes regarding this age group. With the increase of the older population, these stereotypes must disappear in order to work with aged people without a negative view of them. The aim of this paper was to identify the existence of negative stereotypes towards old age in students who are pursuing health-related and not related university degree courses. A total of 262 students were assessed with the CENVE questionnaire. In order to find out whether there were differences between students with respect to negative stereotypes, an ANOVA and a post-hoc comparison test were carried out. Results were significant at the 5% level. These show evidence of the existence of negative stereotypes about old age in students pursuing university degrees related and not related to the field of health. ANOVAs showed differences in total CENVE (F3,259 = 3.574; p = 0.015; η2 = 0.040), Social Motivation dimension (F3,259 = 3.697; p = 0.012; η2 = 0.042), and Personality dimension (F3,259 = 5.157; p = 0.002; η2 = 0.057). The post-hoc tests show the existence of differences in stereotypes depending on the course that is being studied, where the health related courses show the lower level of negative stereotypes.