Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire (AAQ) is a measure designed for cross-cultural comparisons of attitudes to ageing from the perspective of older adults. The article presents a cultural and linguistic adaptation of the AAQ for use with Polish-speaking people. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: The Polish translation of the AAQ-24, Personal Wellbeing Index, Geriatric Depression Scale and demographic and health survey were administered to 500 older adult participants living in Poland: 269 women (53.8%) and 231 men (46.2%), aged 60 to 86 (M = 66.75, SD = 5.10). RESULTS: Similar to other translations of the AAQ, analyses confirmed a three-factor structure for the AAQ. Factor structure was confirmed as: psychosocial loss, physical change, and psychological growth. The tool was found to have good validity based on confirmatory factor analysis, as well as satisfactory latent construct reliability and internal consistency (Cronbach's α and H coefficient > .70 for all subscales). Test-retest reliability in a three-week interval was good (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) ranged between .86 and .91, p < .01, for all subscales). The AAQ-24-PL shows appropriate convergent and divergent validity. Demographic differences in AAQ-24-PL were also found. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the validity and reliability of the AAQ-24-PL, and this useful tool demonstrates acceptable psychometric performance. Researchers and practitioners working with older adults can benefit from using this tool to assess losses and gains with ageing.