Perceptions of older people among Chinese adolescents : conceptual and methodological issues

Abstract

Ageism against older people exists worldwide almost among all age groups and adolescents are of no exception. Numerous studies with specific reference to adolescents of different age, gender, educational level, socioeconomic background, knowledge about aging and experiences with older people showed that they had different perceptions of and attitudes toward older people, but such findings are not entirely conclusive. The situation of Hong Kong is even more confused as there are few studies examining this topic. It is argued that the conflicting findings are largely due to conceptual and methodological problems in the studies. This paper examines the conceptual and methodological issues in this area and outlines suggestions for future research.