Ageism Across Cultures and Interest in Geropsychology Among International Students

Abstract Ageist attitudes are concerning when considering who will enter the geriatric workforce. The impact of ageism on intent to work with older adults (OAs) between North American and non-North American individuals is unclear. We collected data from N=186 students (n=153 N. American, n=33 non-N. American), examining ageist attitudes and intent to work with OAs. We found significant differences between groups in ageist attitudes; North American students had more positive views of aging (M=88.64, SE=0.72) than non-North American students (M=85.33, SE = 1.42; t (167) = 2.04, p = 0.04, d=0.39), but there were no differences between groups for intent to work with OAs (t (174) = 0.09, p = 0.93). Ageist attitudes predicted intent to work with OAs for North American students only (F (2, 112) = 8.82, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.14). We discuss implications of ageism and intent to work with OAs from a cross-cultural lens.