Perceptions of older adults: differences by age and sex among children in a Costa Rican community

Responses from 120 Afro-Caribbean children living in a rural Costa Rican community are used to identify two subdimensions of an index designed to measure children's perceptions of older adults. Sketches of an adult male and female at three ages are used to infer differences in subdimensions in children's perceptions by age and sex. It was found that older females are perceived by the children as more authoritative and older adult males as more affective. Ethnographic techniques are used together with the survey results to elaborate upon the findings and discuss their implications for a general modernization thesis of intergenerational relationships.