Researchers: Lisbeth Drury, Dominic Abrams, Hannah J Swift
Intergenerational contact is crucial for promoting intergenerational harmony and reducing ageism. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted and changed the nature and frequency of intergenerational contact. In addition, research suggests that both ageism towards older adults and intergenerational threat regarding succession and consumption, have increased. Through the lens of the Temporally Integrated Model of Intergroup Contact and Threat (TIMICAT; Abrams & Eller, 2016), we explore the implications of these changing dynamics on ageism towards older adults during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Our review reveals that research into intergenerational contact needs to articulate both the time course and salience of contact and threats before making predictions about their impacts on prejudice. The implications of understanding how contact and threat combine to affect ageism for policy and practice are discussed in relation to employment, education, and intergenerational contact programs. We highlight that policy makers play a key role in promoting intergenerational harmony through the reduction of narratives that inflame intergenerational tensions and threat.
References
- Ageism and older people’s health and well-being during the Covid-19-pandemic: the moderating role of subjective aging.
- Reducing ageism toward older adults and highlighting older adults as contributors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Determinants of Ageism against Older Adults: A Systematic Review.
- Older adults’ perceptions and experiences of ageism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Ageism in the time of COVID-19.
Topic: Intergenerational programs