The Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Age Stereotypes Questionnaire for the Elderly

Abstract

Objectives Age stereotypes, as common social beliefs about the aging process and the age groups, can have a considerable impact on the physical and mental health. Considering the lack of a reliable tool in Iran to measure age stereotypes, the present study was aims to investigate the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the age stereotypes questionnaire. Methods & Materials This is a descriptive-cross-sectional study. Participants were 360 elderly people over 60 years old in Kermanshah, Iran, who were selected based on the inclusion criteria using a convenience sampling method. Participants completed the Persian versions of Kornadt and Rothermund’s age stereotypes questionnaire and Kaspar et al.’s awareness of age-related changes (AARC) questionnaire. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and confirmatory factor analysis in SPSS software, version 26 and AMOS version 24. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results The mean age of participants was 67.66±5.88 years. Participants were 175(48.6%) males and 185(51.4%) females. In assessing internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha for the subscale of family and partnership was obtained 0.871; for the friends and acquaintances subscale, 0.842; for religion and spirituality subscale, 0.747; for leisure activities and social or civic commitment subscale, 0.774; for personality and way of living subscale, 0.809; for financial situation and dealing with money-related issues, 0.846; for work and employment subscale, 0.859; and for physical and mental fitness, health and appearance, 0.874. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the eight-factor model had a very good fit. The results of Pearson’s correlation test showed that the subscales of the age stereotypes questionnaire had a positive and significant correlation with the two subscales of the AARC questionnaire. Conclusion The Persian version of the age stereotypes questionnaire has good validity and reliability for older adults. It can be used in future studies in Iran to examine the relationship between age stereotypes and other important variables related to old age.