Attitudes of Poles and Belarusians towards older people - a cross-cultural study

Attitudes toward seniors are indicators of the quality of relations in society. Nationality and place of residence may be the factors that differentiate these attitudes. The aim of the study was to discover whether there are differences in attitudes towards seniors depending on the place of residence and nationality, with reference to Poland-Belarus.

The study included a group of 881 people (527 Poles and 354 Belarusians) with the variable of place of residence. The Scale of Attitudes Toward Seniors (SPWS) developed by J. Lukasiewicz and W. Kowalski was used.

Poles scored significantly higher than Belarusians on the Respect and Support scale - 4.60 ± 0.59 versus 4.39 ± 0.64 (p<0.001), as well as on the Rejection and Misunderstanding scale - 3.62 ± 0.66 versus 3.45 ± 0.63 (p<0.001). In contrast, on the Social Distance scale, Belarusians had average scores of 2.91 ± 0.56, which were significantly higher than those of Poles (p<0.001). Two-factor ANOVA also showed statistically significant differences on the Respect and Support scale, taking into consideration nationality (p=0.005) and place of residence (p<0.001), as well as in the Rejection and Misunderstanding scale by nationality (p=0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in the Rejection and Misunderstanding scale by place of residence (p=0.664).

Improving the quality of life and standards of care for the elderly is conducive to shaping positive attitudes between generations. Cultural patterns, such as the image of the family and ways of communication in intergenerational relationships, are important for building the correct image of older people and their role in society. Awareness of the changes that occur in old age may be important for shaping the positive image of seniors among the young generation.