A Study of Children's Ability to Identify the Elderly and Desire to Be With the Elderly as A Result of Interaction With Senior Volunteers in the Preschool Classroom
Broadbent, Joanne D'alo
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69013
Description
Title
A Study of Children's Ability to Identify the Elderly and Desire to Be With the Elderly as A Result of Interaction With Senior Volunteers in the Preschool Classroom
Author(s)
Broadbent, Joanne D'alo
Issue Date
1985
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Early Childhood
Abstract
It is the purpose of this study to identify two effects on young children of interaction with elderly volunteers in their child care centers.
The children in this study were three- and four-year-olds enrolled in child care centers which had been identified as middle-class. Seventy are treatment children and 60 control children were pre- and post-tested on ability to identify the elderly and desire to interact with the elderly.
The test of ability to identify the elderly consisted of six sets of three photographs each (two of young adult models and one elderly model, two of two middle-aged models and one elderly model, and two of one young adult, one middle-aged, and one elderly model). The child was asked to point to the oldest person in each set. The desire to interact with the elderly measure consisted of 12 sets of photographs. Each set contained one photograph of an elderly model and one photograph of a young adult model engaged in the same activity. The child was asked to choose one of the models with whom to play. All models used were female. Information on extent of contact with the elderly outside the classroom was collected through parent questionnaires.
Following the pretest, female Retired Senior Volunteer Program participants began assisting in the classrooms with treatment children's contact continued at least once a week for up to 16 weeks. Treatment and control children were posttested at the end of the 16 week period. The data were analyzed using t-tests.
There were no statistically significant differences between treatment and control children on ability to identify the elderly or desire to interact with the elderly. Outside contact with the elderly did not affect scores on either measure. Only the increase in age made a statistically significant difference and that was only on the measure of ability to identify the elderly.
The non-significant results are attributable to two major factors: (1) the difficulty of defining and measuring attitudes of young children and (2) the developmental level of the children which appears to limit ability to categorize and generalize.
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