A comparative factor analysis of attitudes toward societal relations of the elderly

The major objectives of this study were to explore the factorial dimensionality of forty-two additudinal items designed to measure attitudes concerning old people, and to compare these factor structures in two groups. Respondents were divided into a younger group (370 participants aged 30-65) and an older group (337 participants aged 70 and 75). Factor analyses were run independently for each group, providing obliquely rotated factors. Six pairs of factors were judged to be congruent and sufficiently reliable: Work, Welfare, Social Work, Dwelling, Gatherings, and Administratorship. One postulated factor emerged in the older group alone and was named Housekeeping, the conceptual counterpart of which split into two conjugate factors in the younger group. Second-order factor analyses yielded two comparable sets of three second-order factors: Social Activities and Self-Care Ability, whereas the third factor connected high welfare with age-segregated dwelling (and low welfare with age-integration).