ADDRESSING AGING ATTITUDES ACROSS THE LIFESPAN THROUGH INTERGENERATIONAL EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCES

Abstract

Ageism is prominent around the world. It significantly influences how we treat elders and how we respond to our own aging process. A growing body of evidence indicates that age stereotypes and negative perceptions about aging are strongly associated with later physical frailty. Further, age stereotypes can emerge very early in childhood and persist across the lifespan. As such, at a time when the world’s population of people aged 60+ is expected to triple to almost 2 billion by 2050, it is imperative to increase gerontological/geriatric training and outreach, especially to children and young adults. This drastic population shift will also dramatically affect family configurations as increased life expectancy will mean longer intergenerational relationships between children and older family members, further underscoring a need for increased focus on intergenerational education and experiences. Although gerontological/geriatric education and training resources exist, they are underutilized. In addition, more evidence-based interventions and guidance regarding how to effectively implement intergenerational activities in a variety of contexts are needed to bridge the gap between science to practice. In this symposium, attendees will learn about four applied research examples of intergenerational education aimed to combat negative attitudes about aging from multiple perspectives. More specifically, we will highlight: (a) implications and interventions that address young children’s attitudes on aging; (b) educational strategies to address attitudes of health profession students toward older adults, (c) international intergenerational programming efforts to explore aging attitudes in Nicaraguan youth; and (d) an intergenerational lifelong service-learning project to teach undergraduate students about aging.