A meta-analysis of the attitudes of university students in Türkiye toward ageism

Abstract

In today’s society, the issues surrounding aging, older adults, and ageism have gained considerable attention due to the rapidly increasing aging population. This study examines attitudes of the university students in Türkiye toward ageism. Employing a meta-analysis approach, the study investigates whether various sociodemographic factors affecting university students’ attitudes toward ageism. Utilizing Comprehensive Meta Analysis (CMA) software, the research examines potential disparities in attitudes toward ageism based on gender, class, age, family type, mother’s education level, father’s education level and the place where they spend most of their lives. The analysis involves evaluating Hedges’s g effect coefficient, Z statistic, and p-values to determine the relationship between ageism and demographic variables. To address publication bias, Egger’s regression intercept, Duval and Tweedie’s trim and fill, Rosenthal’s classic fail-safe N, and Orwin’s fail-safe N tests are conducted. Conclusively, the study finds that sociodemographic variables have a predominantly ‘very low’ or ‘low’ impact on ageism attitudes among university students. Specifically, only the variable of class shows a marginal effect (measured at −0.375), albeit statistically insignificant. Due to the absence of prior meta-analyses exploring the effects of sociodemographic factors on ageism among university students, these results cannot be directly compared with the existing research.