Abstract

During 1.10.2014 -31.03.2015 empirical studies have been carried out within the research project "The perception of the elderly and their own old age from the perspective of people in early adulthood." The study was conducted on a group of 350 young women studying in Warsaw, Krakow, Lublin, Opole and Wroclaw. The person conducting the study asked to complete a questionnaire. The study takes into account various aspects of the perception of elderly persons during early adulthood. The main focus of the study was to identify how young women perceive the elderly and their own old age. This report will be presented a portion of the research, which was treated as a pilot study. The results of the studies and analysesseem to indicate interesting factors related to the perception of old age young women. The results indicated that most of the surveyed respondents distinguish between the onset of old age for women and men. In the case
of women, almost 37% of the surveyed students indicated that old age begins at age 60, while for men 30% of respondents indicated 70 years of age as the beginning of old age. The surveyed young women indicated that the main problems of old age period are: illness (91.2%), loneliness (40.3%) and financial problems (28%). Tested young women generally rarely (77%) or never (12%) do not think about their own old age. The respondents in the vast majority of ideas about their own age showed their age as a family (44%), overlooked the its role in the care of their grandchildren and to help children (23%). At the same time the prospect of his own age turns out to be a very difficult experience for young women surveyed. The most frequent responses pointed to the anxiety and uncertainty (26.3%), fear of old age (23%) and anxiety (9%).