Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire – AAQ
Measures older adults' self-reported attitudes toward the process of growing older across physical, psychological, and social domains.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire – AAQ was developed by Ken Laidlaw, Michael J. Power, Sonja Schmidt, Suzanne Skevington (2007). It is designed to measure Attitudes to ageing. The scale is intended for use with Older adults.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 24 items organized into 3 factors/subscales: Psychosocial loss, Physical change, Psychological growth.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Psychosocial loss | 3,6,9,12,15,17,20,22 | 8 |
| Physical change | 7,8,11,13,14,16,23,24 | 8 |
| Psychological growth | 1,2,4,5,10,18,19,21 | 8 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Strongly disagree / Not at all true, 2 = Disagree / Not so true, 3 = Neutral / Moderately true, 4 = Agree / Rather true, 5 = Strongly agree / Extremely true.
The scale includes 16 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 24 to 120. Interpretation guidelines:
- Negative attitudes to ageing: 24 – 56
- Neutral/Moderate attitudes to ageing: 57 – 88
- Positive attitudes to ageing: 89 – 120
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Cronbach's alpha: 0.81 (total score), 0.75 (Physical Change), 0.62 (Psychological Growth), 0.74 (Psychosocial Loss).
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.