Presently, there is increasing demand for geriatric nursing care due to increasing proportion of elderly population and extended age. And, of particular importance in determing the effectiveness ofæ nursing care given to the elderly is the attitude of nursing personnel toward the elderly patient.

This study was intendent to investigate the attitudes of baccalaureate nursing students toward the elderly, and to investigate any possible correlation between these attitudes and the following variables: the students’ levels (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior), their preferences for various fields of specialization in nursing after graduation, their clinical experiences with geriatricæ patients, their personal experience with elderly family members, their educational experience of the elflerly's health problems and geriatric nursing, and their experience with relatives and acquaintances over 60 years of age. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compile basic data about ÿthe attitudes of nursing students toward the elderly in order to contribute to the improvement or geriatric nursing.

The_; subjects for this study were 2&y nursing students: 163 in the College of Nursing at E_ Womans Limversity., and 96 in the Department of Nursing in K. College. Data was collected from the 11th of Sep., to the 8th of Oct., 1981ôusing the Tuckman-Lorge Attitude Questionnaire which contained 131 items excepting 6 items. The attitudes toward the elderly was scored by the usie of mean and standard deviation. The relations between attitudes toward the elderly and six independent vairables were analysed by T-test. The results which were obtained are as follows:

1. The attitude score of nursing students was M—S.D–16.IS. Nursing students agreed with of the stereotypic statements, and they had stereotypic attitudes toward the elderly relatively. (P<0.01).

2. There was a significant difference between the attitudes of nursing students toward the elderly·, and sophomores had a less stereotypic attitudes than juniors and seniors (Pく0.01).

3. Tfhere was significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the preferences fot various fields of specialization in nursing after graduation, and nursing students those who wanted maternity fields had a more stereotypic attitudes than others (P<0.05, P<0.01).

4. there was no significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the clin- ical e平erience with the geriatric patients (P>0.05).

5. There was no significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the personal experience with elderly family members (P>0.05).

6. There was no significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the educ ational experience of the elderly's health problems and geriatric nursing (P>0.05).

7. There was no significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the expe rience with relatives and acquaintances over 60 years of age (P>0.05).