Microaggression Toward Older Adults Scale (MTOAS): Development, Validity and Reliability Study

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

Older adults face implicit discrimination and microaggressions in social life. Understanding these experiences and their social effects is crucial for developing policies to strengthen intergenerational relationships. This study aims to develop a reliable and valid tool to assess microaggressions toward older adults based on the perceptions of younger individuals. Participants were 585 undergraduate students from a state university in Türkiye. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the five-factor structure explaining 56.73% of the common variance, with acceptable fit indices (CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.045). Internal consistency was high (Cronbach’s alpha = .84). The Microaggression Toward Older Adults Scale (MTOAS) is a 5-point Likert-type scale comprising five factors and 21 items. Higher scores indicate greater microaggressive tendencies. The results demonstrate that the scale is psychometrically sound and provides a useful tool for raising awareness and promoting healthier intergenerational interactions.