Young people attitudes towards the Elderly

S obzirom da trenutna skupina mladih osoba preuzima odgovornost za dobrobit sve većeg broja osoba starije životne dobi, pitanje stavova i odnosa prema osobama starije životne dobi postaje sve relevantnije. Kako dosadašnja istraživanja pokazuju da stavovi mladih osoba prema starijim osobama utječu na kvalitetu života te na položaj starijih osoba u društvu, ovim istraživanjem se nastojao dobiti uvid u stavove mladih osoba prema osobama starije životne dobi. Polazišnu teorijsku osnovu ovog istraživanja je činila hipoteza optimalnog kontakta, odnosno Allportova teorija kontakta, a ciljevi ovog istraživanja su bili 1) ispitati odnos između učestalosti kontakta, percipirane kvalitete kontakta i stavova mladih prema starijim osobama te 2) utvrditi odrednice stavova prema starijim osobama kod mladih u kontekstu sociodemografskih obilježja. Istraživanje je provedeno metodom web ankete na uzorku od 506 mladih osoba u dobi od 18 do 35 godina koje žive na području Republike Hrvatske. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju kako su stavovi mladih osoba prema starijima neutralni, te naginju ka pozitivnim stavovima, odnosno na samoj su granici između neutralnih i pozitivnih. Potvrđena je i pozitivna povezanost između učestalosti kontakta, procijenjene kvalitete kontakta i stavova prema starijim osobama. Nadalje, potvrđeno je da postoji razlika u stavovima prema starijim osobama s obzirom na stupanj obrazovanja ispitanika te spol ispitanika. Uz to, rezultati pokazuju da dob ispitanika nije značajno povezana sa stavovima prema starijim osobama, te između stanovanja sa bakom/djedom i stavova prema starijim osobama nije pronađena statistički značajna razlika. Dobiveni rezultati su u skladu s dosadašnjim istraživanjima te ukazuju na potrebu poticanja programa kojima bi cilj bio omogućavanje i poticanje međugeneracijskog kontakta između mlađih i starijih osoba.As the current group of young people takes responsibility for the well-being of an increasing number of older people, the issue of attitudes and attitudes towards older people is becoming increasingly relevant. As previous research shows that the attitudes of young people towards the elderly affect the quality of life and the position of the elderly in society, this research seeks to gain insight into the attitudes of young people towards the elderly. The starting theoretical basis of this research was the hypothesis of optimal contact, i.e. Allport's theory of contact, and the objectives of this research were 1) to examine the relationship between contact frequency, perceived quality of contact and attitudes towards the elderly and 2) to determine the attitudes towards the elderly in young people. in the context of sociodemographic characteristics. The research was conducted using a web survey on a sample of 506 young people aged 18 to 35 living in the Republic of Croatia. The results of the research show that the attitudes of young people towards the elderly are neutral, and they tend towards positive attitudes, ie they are on the border between neutral and positive. The positive correlation between the frequency of contact, the assessed quality of contact and attitudes towards the elderly was also confirmed. Furthermore, it was confirmed that there is a difference in attitudes towards the elderly with regard to the level of education of the respondents and the gender of the respondents. In addition, the results show that the age of the respondents is not significantly related to attitudes towards the elderly, and no statistically significant difference was found between living with grandparents and attitudes towards the elderly. The obtained results are in line with previous research, indicating the need to encourage programs aimed at enabling and encouraging intergenerational contact between younger and older people