Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba, Israel.
Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2023 Aug 2;78(8):1330-1340. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad038.
Past studies showed that intergenerational contact is beneficial in improving attitudes toward older people. To date, however, research on the benefits of contact with older adults focused on younger adults (intergenerational contact), overlooking the effects for older adults (contact with same-age peers). In this study, we investigated the association between contact with older adults and views of the self in old age in a domain-specific way among younger and older adults.
The sample (n = 2,356) comprised younger (39-55 years) and older (65-90 years) adults who participated in the aging as future study and were from China (Hong Kong and Taiwan), the Czech Republic, Germany, and the United States. We used moderated mediation models for data analysis.
Contact with older adults was related to more positive views of the self in old age and this effect was mediated by more positive stereotypes of older people. These relations were stronger for older adults. Beneficial effects of contact with older adults emerged mostly in the domains of friends and leisure, but less in the family domain.
Having interactions with other older adults may help favorably shape how younger adults and particularly older adults view their own aging, especially in relation to friends and leisure activities. From the perspective of older adults, having regular contacts with other older adults may increase the heterogeneity of exposure to different aging experiences, thus encouraging the formation of more differentiated stereotypes of older people and of their views of themselves in old age.
过去的研究表明，代际接触有益于改善人们对老年人的态度。然而，迄今为止，关于与老年人接触益处的研究主要集中在年轻成年人（代际接触），而忽略了老年人（与同年龄的同伴接触）的影响。在这项研究中，我们以特定领域的方式调查了年轻成年人和老年人中与老年人接触与晚年自我观之间的关联。
该样本（n=2356）包括来自中国（香港和台湾）、捷克共和国、德国和美国的年轻成年人（39-55 岁）和老年成年人（65-90 岁），他们参与了未来老龄化研究。我们使用了调节中介模型进行数据分析。
与老年人的接触与对晚年自我更积极的看法有关，这种影响是通过对老年人更积极的刻板印象来介导的。这种关系在老年成年人中更强。与老年人的接触的有益影响主要出现在朋友和休闲领域，但在家庭领域则较少。
与其他老年人的互动可能有助于年轻成年人，特别是老年成年人形成对自己衰老的有利看法，特别是在与朋友和休闲活动有关的方面。从老年成年人的角度来看，与其他老年人定期接触可能会增加不同衰老经验的接触多样性，从而鼓励形成对老年人的更具差异化的刻板印象以及他们对自己晚年的看法。
