Researcher Frederick Woodress has added another study, one on media as it has impacted the elderly, to the large 65-year-old data bank for Muncie Indiana's "Middletown." The basic data was established in 1924 when Robert and Helen Lynd, pioneer sociologists, arrived in the Midwestern town to research and write their Middletown books. This new study covers 553 males and females ages 19 to 92--400 over 60 selected at random by computer, 75 in the 30 to 50 group, also selected at random by computer, and 78 journalism students. The elderly and 30 to 50 year-olds were interviewed by telephone while the students completed questionnaires face-to-face.As part of this investigation, Woodress surveyed prominent newspaper columnists, TV news people and editors about their perceptions of the media's coverage of the elderly. With 53 percent return, the author summarized the results of this mail survey.The 14 mediums examined included television, radio, newspapers, tabloids, magazines, books, comics, computers, VCR's and motion pictures. Complaints and compliments were expressed about various media with television rating as the medium the respondents of all ages would miss the most with newspapers a distant second. Elderly respondents displayed a strong interest in television, newspapers, magazines and books, spent considerable time listening to police/fire radio scanners and showed some interest in using computers. The elderly were very critical of the movie industry and two-thirds said they had not attended a movie for at least a year. Almost one-third of the 30-50 age group also admitted they had not attended a movie theater showing for a year, but all groups were watching movies on television, cable and VCR's.All three groups commented on the media coverage of the 1988 presidential election campaign and told what activities they would rather be doing than reading newspapers, listening to radio or watching television. This study is an overview of the growing elderly population, a group given scant attention in previous Middletown studies. It provides important insights for the media concerning this growing segment of the population.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Steven McClung, Florida State University, College of Communication, Dept. of Communication. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 27, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

A group of 101 older adults (sixty-five years of age and over) who lived independently in three retirement apartment residences in Denton, Texas, were asked about their patterns of reading, television viewing, and radio listening habits for two periods in their lives: (1) at age forty to fifty-five and (2) at the present. Respondents were asked about their use of external information sources (public library, grocery store, newsstand, etc.) and their use of proximate information sources (radio, friends/relatives, television, etc.) They were also asked about access to transportation, income satisfaction, status of general health, vision, hearing, physical mobility and reasons for utilizing various information sources. Four hypotheses relating changes in health, environment, economic status, and education to reasons for reading and use of information sources were tested through the use of t-tests, regression analysis and analysis of variance. Within this group of older adults, use of external information sources decreased from the past to the present. There was, however, no change in the use of information sources located in or near the residence as difficulties in these areas increased. A relationship was found between educational level and reading for pleasure earlier in life. Also, those with higher educational levels reported fewer differences in their reasons for reading in the present and in the past.

Tam Pui Ching, Maria. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-73). / Questionnaire also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter One: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- Literature Review --- p.5 / Cultivation Theory --- p.5 / Stereotypes and Attitudes toward the Elderly --- p.8 / Factors Affecting Stereotypes --- p.9 / Media Influence on Attitudes toward the Elderly --- p.12 / Cultural Values of Family and Ageing --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- Rationale and Hypotheses --- p.20 / Rationale --- p.20 / Hypotheses --- p.23 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- Methodology --- p.29 / Sample --- p.29 / Measurement of Chinese Cultural Values --- p.30 / Measurement of Attitudes toward the Elderly --- p.33 / Measurement of Stereotypes about the Elderly --- p.37 / Media Exposure --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter Five: --- Findings --- p.41 / Testing Hypothesis H1 --- p.46 / Testing Hypothesis H2 --- p.47 / Testing Hypothesis H3 --- p.47 / Testing Hypothesis H4 --- p.48 / Testing Hypothesis H5 --- p.48 / Testing Hypothesis H6 --- p.49 / Testing Hypothesis H7 --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter Six: --- Discussion and Conclusion --- p.52 / Appendix1 --- p.62 / References --- p.67