The Role of Education and Knowledge about Aging in Creating Young People’s Attitudes to the Elderly

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: With the intensive growth in the number of older people and prolonged life span in the contemporary postmodern society, it has become increasingly important to build positive intergenerational cooperation and promote education on aging and older people, especially between younger and older generations. That is why the authors, on the basis of empirical research and scientific literature, examined knowledge about aging among young people and the connection between knowledge about aging and the formation of negative attitudes towards older people. Methods: The study involved 609 secondary school students aged 15 to 19 years. Results: The survey results showed that only one-fifth of the young population has good knowledge about aging. The relationship between knowledge about aging and ageism is negative, which means that young people with less knowledge about aging often have a negative attitude towards older people. Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, the authors underline the importance of integrating gerontology content in all stages of education.