Attitudes About the Competence of Charitable Gift Givers

Respondents responded to vignettes about the mental competence of an older woman, an older man, a younger woman, or a younger man who was identified as wealthy and who had decided to give her/his wealth to a religious organization with which the person had been associated for a year. Controlling for respondents' educational programs, exposure to psychopathology and aging curriculum, and religious affiliation, a General Linear Model revealed that although respondents did not believe the vignette characters were significantly impaired, there were differences in perceptions based on the gender and age of the character they considered in nine of 20 items. The older woman and older men were more likely to be viewed to be in need of a capacity assessment than the younger woman or man. An additional four items were considered to avoid a Type II error because of their proximity to significance.