An experimental investigation of a simulated online intergenerational friendship

Ashley Lytle, Jamie Macdonald, Sheri R. Levy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reducing ageism is a significant social issue. The current study involved a novel experimental examination of whether a one-time simulated online intergenerational friendship would reduce ageism. Undergraduate participants were randomly assigned to complete an interpersonal closeness exercise (the “fast friends” procedure, Aron et al., 1997; Lytle & Levy, 2015) with a confederate who used a script to answer the fast friends questions, during which they either did not reveal their age (control condition) or revealed being an older adult (age 65; experimental condition). Results indicate that experimental (vs. control) participants reported less ageism and more positive behavior (friendlier responses). These findings suggest that positive online intergenerational contact may help combat ageism. As intergenerational contact was limited before the COVID-19 pandemic and even more so during the pandemic, facilitating online intergenerational contact may be a particularly worthwhile ageism reduction strategy. Further implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)286-297
Number of pages12
JournalGerontology and Geriatrics Education
Volume44
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

Keywords

  • Ageism
  • intergenerational contact
  • intervention
  • stereotypes

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