Development of a short form of the Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire (AAQ)

Objectives The original 24‐item Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ) is well established as a measure of attitudes to aging, comprising domains of psychosocial loss (PL), physical change (PC), and psychological growth (PG). This paper presents a new 12‐item short form Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ‐SF). Methods The original field trial data used to develop the 24‐item AAQ (AAQ‐24) were used to compare 6‐item, 9‐item, and 12‐item versions of AAQ‐SF (sample 1, n = 2487) and to test the discriminative validity of the selected 12‐item AAQ‐SF (sample 2, n = 2488). Data from a separate study reporting on the AAQ‐24 (sample 3, n = 792) verified the analyses. Results The 12‐item AAQ‐SF reported adequate internal consistency in both sample 1 (PL α = .72, PC α = .72, and PG α = .62) and sample 3 (PL α = .68, PC α = .73, and PG α = .61). The AAQ‐SF functioned consistently with the profile of the AAQ‐24 in that subscales in both formats of this measure discriminate between respondents on key parameters such as depression, subjective health status, and overall quality of life in sample 2. Sample 3 also demonstrated the AAQ‐SF can detect the differences in attitudes toward aging between individuals experiencing anxiety and depression and those without psychological symptoms. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the structure of the AAQ‐SF mirrors that of the original 24‐item AAQ. Conclusions The AAQ‐SF is a robust measure of attitudes toward aging, which can reduce respondent burden when used within longer questionnaire batteries or longitudinal research. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.