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Sex of Target and Sex of Subject Effects on the Perception of 25, 45, 65, and 85 Year Olds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

William L. Gekoski ,
V. Jane Knox ,
Edward A. Johnson  and
Kenneth R. Evans
William L. Gekoski
Affiliation:
Queen's University
V. Jane Knox
Affiliation:
Queen's University
Edward A. Johnson
Affiliation:
Queen's University
Kenneth R. Evans
Affiliation:
Queen's University
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Abstract

In a completely between subjects design 80 male and 80 female undergraduates evaluated targets which were male or female and 25, 45, 65, or 85 years old, on the Aging Semantic Differential (ASD; Rosencranz & McNevin, 1969). Findings indicated that older targets were rated less positively than younger targets on two of the three ASD dimensions and that Target Age × Target Sex × Subject Age interactions were significant for two of the dimensions. These results replicate the target age (between subjects) effects reported by O'Connell and Rotter (1979) but not those which involved target sex (within subjects) and subject sex. It was concluded that a) subject sex and target sex affect perceptions of targets of different ages elicited from young subjects and b) between subjects versus within subjects designs produce different characterizations of such targets.

Résumé

Au cours d'une recherche conçue sur un modèle strictement intersubjectif, 80 étudiants et 80 étudiantes du premier cycle ont porté une appréciation sur des hommes et des femmes (cibles) âgés de 25, 45, 65 et 85 ans, à l'aide de la différentielle sémantique sur le vieillissement (Rosencranz & McNevin, 1969: Aging Sematic Differential/ASD/). Les résultats indiquent que les cibles plus âgées ont été moins bien cotées que les plus jeunes selon deux des trois dimensions de l'ASD, et que les interactions “Âge de la cible × Sexe de la cible × Âge du sujet” sont significatives pour deux des dimensions. Ces résultats confirment les effets de l'âge des cibles (entre sujets) rapportés par O'Connell et Rotter (1979), mais non pas ceux qui proviennent du sexe des cibles (entre sujets) ni du sexe des sujets. On en conclut (a) que le sexe du sujet et celui de la cible affectent la perception des cibles d'âge différent, chez les sujets jeunes et (b) que le plan de recherche intersubjectif évoque des caractérisations différentes de celles que l'on obtient à partir d'un plan de recherche basé sur la réciprocité.

Keywords

Attitudes and agingStereotypes and agingSex differencesExperimental design differences.Attitudes et vieillissementstéréotypes et vieillissementdifférences entre les sexesdifference entre les plans de recherche.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , December 1984 , pp. 155 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1984

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