What College Students Know about Older Adults: A Cross-Cultural Qualitative Study |
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| Authors: | Ling-Yi Zhou |
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| Institution: | 1. University of St. Francis , Joliet, Illinois, USA lzhou@stfrancis.edu |
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| Abstract: | A total of 227 college students from Joliet, Illinois in the USA and Shanghai in the People's Republic of China (PRC) answered open-ended questions on their perception of being old. Topics also included participant's knowledge about older adults' regular activities, social policies and benefits for senior citizens, the happiest and the most fearful things to older adults, and the things about older adults that they were able to understand the best or the least. More negative ideas of aging and older adults were observed in the PRC data than in the USA data. The USA students' responses displayed individualistic characteristics, whereas the PRC students' answers exhibited collectivistic interconnectedness. These findings gave support to the revised modernization theory and fit well into the theoretical framework of individualistic and collectivistic cultures. |
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