Construction and Validation of Attitude towards Aging Scale for Pakistani Population

The attitude in the direction of aging can demonstrate sentimental beliefs, reactions, knowledge, and particular behavioral reactions about the elderly and aging. So far, no tool is available relative to Pakistani culture that could exclusively measure attitudes towards aging.In order to generate item pool semi-structured interviews were conducted, moreover literature review and expert opinion were also consulted. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out on a sample of 606 Pakistani adolescents and young adults. A two-factor(positive attitude & negative attitude) solution with 20-items was yielded, which accordingly accounted for 30.11% of the variance. To confirm the factor structure of Attitude towards Aging Scale, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out on 200 respondents and The Confirmatory factor analysis supported the measurement structure of Attitude towards Aging Scale retained through exploratory factor analysis. In order to ensure the convergentvalidity of the instrument, an independent sample of 250 participants was taken. Results provided the evidence of convergent validity as attitude towards aging appeared to be positively correlated with knowledge about aging and aging anxiety. The Cronbach alpha reliability for factors was .73 and .81.  Moreover, the implications of the study along with its limitations were discussed.