Sociodemographic, experiential and dispositional determinants of prejudices against older people.

Demografski trendovi diljem svijeta ukazuju na značajan porast udjela starijeg stanovništva. Predrasude prema starijim osobama predstavljaju uvjerenja o pojedincima vezana isključivo uz kalendarsku dob. Cilj provedenog istraživanja bio je utvrditi odnos između nekih sociodemografskih varijabli, kontakta, idiocentrizma/alocentrizma sudionika i predrasuda prema osobama starijima od 65 godina. U on-line istraživanju je sudjelovalo 446 muškaraca i žena u dobi od 16 do 75 godina. Korišteni su sociodemografski upitnik, pitanja o kontaktu/iskustvu sa starijima, HVIC skala horizontalnog i vertikalnog individualizma i kolektivizma (Singelis i sur., 1995) te SIC skala sukcesije, identiteta i konzumacije (North i Fiske, 2013). Pokazalo se da sudionici postižu veći prosječni rezultat na skali alocentrizma nego idiocentrizma. Što se tiče subskala idiocentrizma, dobiven je veći prosječni rezultat na horizontalnom nego vertikalnom idiocentrizmu. Utvrđeno je da predrasude prema starijim osobama nisu u većoj mjeri zastupljene. Rezultati pokazuju da je iskazani stupanj predrasuda značajno viši kod pripadnika mlađih naraštaja, muškaraca, onih nižeg stupnja izobrazbe, višeg stupnja vertikalnog idiocentrizma, sklonijih desnoj političkoj opciji te kod onih pojedinaca koji svoj odnos sa starijima procjenjuju manje kvalitetnim. Također, uočavamo da su predrasude prema starijim osobama obrnuto proporcionalno povezane sa financijskim stanjem sudionika.Demographic trends worldwide indicate a significant increase in the proportion of the older population. Prejudices against older people are beliefs against individuals solely because of chronological age. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between sociodemographic variables, contact with elderly persons, idiocentrism/allocentrism and prejudices against people older than 65 years. Study included 446 men and women aged 16 to 75 years. In the study we used socio-demographic questionnaire, questions about contact/experience with the elderly, HVIC scale of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism (Singelis et al., 1995) and SIC scale of succession, identity and consumption (North & Fiske, 2013). The study showed that the participants achieved a higher average score on the scale of allocentrism than idiocentrism. As for the subscales of idiocentrism, obtained results show higher mean score on the horizontal than on vertical idiocentrism. It was found that prejudices against older people are not overly represented. Also, the expressed level of prejudices against older people is significantly higher among younger generations, men, those with lower levels of education, those with higher vertical idiocentrism, those that are more inclined to the right political option and those individuals who assess their relationship with the elderly as one of lower quality. Also, results indicate prejudices against older people are inversely proportional to the financial status of respondents