Comparing Social Work and Non-Social Work Students' Attitudes About Aging: Implications to Promote Work with Elders.

This paper presents the results from a comprehensive study of aging attitudes among 97 social work students and 80 non-social work students at a mid-sized university in south central Pennsylvania. Overall, students had moderately negative views of aging and expressed little desire to work with older adults. Non-social work students possessed significantly higher knowledge about aging; no other group differences were found. Demographic, individual, mental health, and professional characteristics were significantly related to attitudes about aging and de- sire to work with older adults. Implications for curricular changes and out-of-class volunteer experiences to improve students' perceptions of aging and older adults are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]