Estereotipos negativos y actitudes negativas hacia la vejez en estudiantes de psicología de una universidad del DMQ.

Abstract

Society conceives of old age as a stage in which it implies losses and deteriorations. These pejorative ideas about this stage are known as negative stereotypes, which have a negative impact on the physical and mental health of people adults, generating attitudes of discrimination, rejection of this age group and the aging process. Therefore, the objective of this research was to describe the prevalence of negative stereotypes and negative attitudes towards old age in psychology students from a DMQ university in 2021. The study methodology was descriptive and cross-sectional, with a sample of 410 students from all levels of the Psychology career. For this, an ad hoc sociodemographic record was used, the questionnaire on negative stereotypes towards old age (CENVE) and Kogan´s scale of attitudes towards the elderly (KAOP). It was found that 70.2% of the students present high levels of negative stereotypes towards old age, mainly in the character-personality dimension with 74.9%. However, a representative percentage with respect to negative attitudes was not identified since only 1.7% present this type of attitudes towards old age, in addition the information obtained highlights that it is mainly women who have more negative stereotypes and negative attitudes towards this stage. The results of this research agree with other findings made with students from other careers related to the health area.