TY - JOUR
T1 - An Examination of Intergenerational Contact Experiences Using 10,338 Journal Entries From 2,414 Young Adults
AU - Lytle, Ashley
AU - Kowal, Michael
AU - MacDonald, Jamie
AU - Levy, Sheri R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].
PY - 2022/4/1
Y1 - 2022/4/1
N2 - Background and Objectives: With continued negative depictions of older adults and limitations on positive intergenerational contact, ageism is a significant social issue. Using a rich data set of journal entries, we examined sentiments, emotions, and optimal intergenerational contact conditions among volunteers in an intergenerational program. Research Design and Methods: 10,338 journal entries were analyzed from 2,414 young adult volunteers from GlamourGals Foundation, Inc., a U.S. nonprofit, which aims to reduce isolation by facilitating intergenerational contact. Applying the PEACE (Positive Education about Aging and Contact Experiences) theoretical model, each sentence was coded using sentiment analysis, emotional analysis, and supervised learning methods across 5 optimal intergenerational contact conditions. Results: Out of 74,475 sentences, participants reported predominantly positive sentiments (64.2% positive, 29% neutral, and 6.8% negative) and more positive emotions (e.g., joy) than negative emotions (e.g., disgust). Nearly all participants (98.2%) wrote at least a sentence that included at least 1 of the 5 optimal intergenerational contact conditions. Moreover, positive sentiment was present in higher percentages when more instances of optimal contact conditions were reported (54.4% for none, 71.6% for 1 category, 81.5% for 2, 83% for 3, 89.2% for 4, 98.4% for 5). Discussion and Implications: The present investigation applied a theoretical model to assess a long-standing community intergenerational program. Contact that provided one-to-one, cooperative, equal status interactions involving personal disclosure that was sanctioned by the program administrators was associated with positive sentiment. Future directions and implications are discussed.
AB - Background and Objectives: With continued negative depictions of older adults and limitations on positive intergenerational contact, ageism is a significant social issue. Using a rich data set of journal entries, we examined sentiments, emotions, and optimal intergenerational contact conditions among volunteers in an intergenerational program. Research Design and Methods: 10,338 journal entries were analyzed from 2,414 young adult volunteers from GlamourGals Foundation, Inc., a U.S. nonprofit, which aims to reduce isolation by facilitating intergenerational contact. Applying the PEACE (Positive Education about Aging and Contact Experiences) theoretical model, each sentence was coded using sentiment analysis, emotional analysis, and supervised learning methods across 5 optimal intergenerational contact conditions. Results: Out of 74,475 sentences, participants reported predominantly positive sentiments (64.2% positive, 29% neutral, and 6.8% negative) and more positive emotions (e.g., joy) than negative emotions (e.g., disgust). Nearly all participants (98.2%) wrote at least a sentence that included at least 1 of the 5 optimal intergenerational contact conditions. Moreover, positive sentiment was present in higher percentages when more instances of optimal contact conditions were reported (54.4% for none, 71.6% for 1 category, 81.5% for 2, 83% for 3, 89.2% for 4, 98.4% for 5). Discussion and Implications: The present investigation applied a theoretical model to assess a long-standing community intergenerational program. Contact that provided one-to-one, cooperative, equal status interactions involving personal disclosure that was sanctioned by the program administrators was associated with positive sentiment. Future directions and implications are discussed.
KW - Ageism
KW - Attitudes and perception toward aging/aged
KW - Intergenerational relationships
KW - PEACE model
KW - Sentiment analysis
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U2 - 10.1093/geront/gnab171
DO - 10.1093/geront/gnab171
M3 - Article
C2 - 34792137
AN - SCOPUS:85128160472
SN - 0016-9013
VL - 62
SP - 397
EP - 403
JO - Gerontologist
JF - Gerontologist
IS - 3
ER -