Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Julie Hicks Patrick

Committee Member

JoNell Strough

Committee Member

Elisa Krackow

Committee Member

Kristina Hash

Committee Member

Kelly Smith

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Ambivalent Ageism Scale (Cary et al., 2017) and to provide an understanding of how ageist attitudes might change or remain the same in response to a cultural and societal event. Measurement invariance is the assessment of the psychometric equivalence of a construct (e.g., ageism) across groups or waves of measurement (Putnick & Bornstein, 2016). The first step in measurement invariance analyses is configural measurement invariance, which is the evaluation of the factor structure, with the goal of producing the same number of factors and the same configuration of variables for each group (Putnick & Bornstein, 2016). Once configural measurement invariance is achieved, the next step is to test for metric measurement invariance, or the evaluation of the factor loadings by constraining all factor loadings to be equal across the given groups (Putnick & Bornstein, 2016). If metric measurement invariance is achieved, then scalar measurement invariance can be tested by constraining the intercepts of the observed variables to be equal across the groups (Putnick & Bornstein, 2016). If scalar measurement is achieved, then residual measurement invariance should be tested. Residual measurement invariance is the examination of the residuals of metric and scalar invariant items, more specifically, the error variance is similar across the groups being tested (Putnick & Bornstein, 2016). Additionally, temporal stability measures how consistent a construct or measure/scale is over time (Buss, 2013). The same four levels of measurement invariance are tested (i.e., configural, metric, scalar, and residual); however, temporal measurement invariance examines the latent factors across different time points, instead of different group membership. Research Question 1 asked whether the Ambivalent Ageism Scale exhibited measurement invariance across age groups, and Research Question 2 explored whether the Ambivalent Ageism Scale exhibited temporal stability. Research Question 3 examined mean stability of ageist attitudes, and Research Question 4 explored the individual differences that influence the mean stability of ageist attitudes. Participants were recruited through Cloud Connect, and age, sex, and race groups were matched to the United States Census. Data was collected across a nine-month period, totaling three waves of data collection. Results for Research Question 1 provided mixed results. Partial measurement metric measurement invariance was achieved at Wave 1, and partial measurement residual measurement invariance was achieved at Waves 2 and 3. Results from Research Question 2 also produced mixed results initially. However, after post hoc analyses were conducted where item 1 was removed from each model, full residual measurement invariance was achieved across three waves of data. We did not find support for our hypothesis for Research Question 3. The intercept for both hostile and benevolent ageism was significantly different from zero, however the slopes were not significant, indicating no change in attitudes across the three waves. Results for Research Question 4 produced similar results, where individual factors were found to influence the intercept but not the slope. The current study extended findings in the literature by exploring measurement invariance across age groups and demonstrating temporal stability of the Ambivalent Ageism Scale. Additionally, results establish that in the light of historical events, hostile and benevolent ageism remained stable. Future research should continue to examine ageism using the Ambivalent Ageism Scale to better understand how hostile and benevolent ageism functions across the lifespan, as well as change over time.

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