This study aims at making comparisons of attitudes of nursing students toward the elders in general and demented elders. The subjects were 37 woman senior students having been majored in nursing at a university. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires from March through April, 2000. Paired t-tests and correlation analyses were adopted in data analyses. Based upon a previous study, four factors were assumed to exist in image items such as activity-independence, happiness, mildness, and cooperativeness. The students had neutral attitude for happiness and positive attitude for mildness in general elders, whereas negative attitudes for both happiness and mildness in demented elders. The average score for cooperativeness indicated negative attitudes in both elderly groups with little difference in their interpretations. The item of solidarity/isolation indicated most negative attitude in both elderly groups. Correlation between activity-independence and cooperativeness was highest. Particular attention should be given in promoting positive attitudes toward demented elders as well as elders in general among nursing students. Conjecturing the effects of mass media on forming images of demented elders among the students, programs in mass media should be able to deliver positive images of demented elders rather than emphasizing their problematic behaviors only.