Social representations of the elderly – an exploratory study
Social representations of the elderly – an exploratory study

Summary/Abstract: The recent decades face an important demographic transition as the population is constantly ageing and the birth rate decreases. The subject of aging presents a growing interest in the scientific community. The present study aimed to clarify Romanian social representations of the elderly. 76 participants were submitted to an inductive method using the ambiguous scenario and an associative map task. Results show that associations split between physical and psychological changes. Illness and helplessness are elements associated with physical decline, while wisdom, loneliness and grandparenthood are related to psychosocial perception. Elderly women are perceived as more vulnerable, being significantly more likely to suffer from loneliness, lack of money or health problems compared to elderly men or even adult men and women.

• Details
• Contents