A Comparison of Attitudes Toward Persons with Mental Retardation in Three Age Groups

This study is an attempt to compare attitudes toward persons with mental retardation in different age groups. It attempts to determine if public attitudes toward adults and elderly persons with mental retardation are more negative than attitudes toward children with mental retardation, and if attitudes toward elderly persons with mental retardation are more negative than attitudes toward adults with mental retardation. The instrument used in this study was a set of three semantic differential scales. The scales measured attitudes toward three concepts: mentally retarded child, mentally retarded young adult, and mentally retarded elderly person. A stratified sampling procedure was used to select the subjects for this study. The instrument was distributed to 142 individuals. These subjects completed all three scales - one for each age group. The group responses to each concept were then compared using three t -tests, and significant differences were found between each of the three paired groups