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Medical Students' Attitudes Toward Sexually Active Older Persons
Author(s) -
Damrosch Shirley P.,
Fischman Susan H.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1985.tb05439.x
Subject(s) - sexually active , medicine , alertness , human sexuality , clinical psychology , gerontology , family medicine , psychiatry , gender studies , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , sociology
There are widespread assumptions in the literature concerning general disapproval of sexual activity in older persons. However, research evidence in support of these assumptions is sparse. An experiment that focused on attitudes toward sexually active older persons was conducted with 140 freshmen medical students. Each student read a 200‐word account of a 68‐year‐old man or woman temporarily living in a nursing home. By random assignment, half read that the person was sexually active; there was no mention of sexuality for the remaining students. Students evaluated the 68 year old on a rating scale of 0 to 9 for such characteristics as mental alertness and cheerfulness. Regardless of the 68‐year‐old person's gender, the students were significantly biased in favor of the sexually active person. Implications of these findings are discussed. J Am Geriatr Soc 33:852, 1985