Comparisons of education majors' perception of aging

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not differences exist between perceptions regarding aging and the realities of aging between graduate and undergraduate education students within the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University. Data was gathered from 143 undergraduate and graduate students who were enrolled in various majors in the College of Education, on the Boca Raton and Davie campuses during the Spring 2002 semester. The Aging, Learning and Work Quiz (Galbraith and Venable, 1985), was the inventory that was utilized. It has six subscales: Biology, Psychology, Learning, Decision-Making, Work Performance and Health. Six hypotheses were tested that there was no significant difference between the dependent variables of Biology (Ho1), Psychology (Ho2), Learning (Ho3), Decision-Making (Ho4), Work Performance (Ho5), Health (Ho6) and one or more of the independent variables of Educational Level, Degree type, Gender, Age and Ethnicity. The seventh hypothesis tested was that there is no difference in the perception of aging between pre-baccalaureate individuals and post-baccalaureate individuals (Ho7) with regard to each of the dependent variables. The statistically significant results of the study were: (a) Biology (Ho1), there was a difference found between ethnic groups of White and Other (p < .045), with White's being more accurate in their perception of the biology aspects of aging, (b) Learning (Ho3), a gender difference was found (p < .003), with males being more accurate in their perception of an individual's ability to learn, retain information and accumulate knowledge, (c) Decision-Making (Ho4), a difference was found between Educational Psychology majors and Reading Education majors (p < .012), with Reading Education majors being more accurate in their perception of how aging affects decision-making ability, (d) Work Performance (Ho5), there differences found between Reading Education majors and Educational Psychology majors (p < .001), with Reading Education majors being more accurate in their perception of work. Differences were also found between majors of Other and Educational Psychology (p < .014), with Other being more accurate in their perceptions of Work, and (e) (Ho 7) there was a difference found between pre-baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate participants for the variable of psychology at the (p < .05), with post-baccalaureate participants scoring higher.