Social work students' attitudes toward older adults and career choice

The purpose of this study was to examine social work students' (graduate and undergraduate) attitudes toward older adults, and how these attitudes relate to their career choice. Kogan's Old People (KOP) Scale was administered to 60 social work students (41 CYF, 9 OAF, 10 undergraduate) at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) to assess how social work students perceived older adults, 65 years and older, Findings suggest that students' attitudes, overall, are positive. The completed questionnaires indicated no significant difference between the age or gender of the participants and their attitudes toward older adults. However, this study found that Caucasians had more favorable attitudes than Hispanics/Latinos. Likewise, those students whose career choice was influenced by an older person had significantly higher mean scores on the KOP scale. A trend was found regarding participants' concentration and attitudes. Subjects currently in the Older Adult and Families (OAF) concentration had more positive attitudes than Children, Youth, and Families (CYF) students toward older adults. This study also suggests that although many participants who were enrolled in the CYF concentration did not intend to work with older adults, most were unsure. Limitations, implications for social work practice, and suggestions for future research are also discussed.