Search

By comparing intergenerational to same-generation interactions in creative activities, we aimed to reveal characteristic behaviors of older and younger adults in intergenerational interactions usin...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of young people’s reactions to changes in older people’s generativity when wisdom is transmitted to the younger people. Participants included 48 male adults aged 63–77 years. Each participant was assigned to either the condition of “wisdom from experiences of failure” or the “wisdom from experiences of success” condition. Participants expressed narratives to younger “listeners” or recipients, who were confederates and were instructed to respond either empathetically or neutrally. Results showed that only in the “wisdom from experiences of failure” condition, generativity was promoted when young recipients responded in an empathic manner. Generativity decreased when the young recipients responded in a neutral manner. Based on these results, the differential effects of responses from younger individuals to older persons’ transmission of stories about negative experiences are discussed.

Old people have considerable experience and wisdom to share with young people; however, young people do not always listen to old people with gratitude. We conducted two studies to examine the effect of regulatory fit on young people’s gratitude toward old advisers. As predicted, young people felt more grateful to old advisers whose advice did not “fit” the advisees’ self-regulatory orientation, whereas young people felt more grateful to young advisers whose advice fit the advisees’ self-regulatory orientation (lab experiment in Study 1, Web survey in Study 2). Using these results, we propose an idea that may promote smoother intergenerational interaction in transmitting experience and wisdom from older to younger generations.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the young listener’s reaction on the development of generativity and narratives of elderly people. Thirty-four males between the ages of 60 and 82 participated in this experiment in which the listener generations (young/elderly) and listener reactions (empathic/neutral) were controlled. The participants shared and taught their wisdom gained from their past experiences through narratives. Results showed that many elderly people spoke about “lessons from experiences of failure” when there was an empathic reaction from young people, and such narratives were promoted by an increase of generativity. These results suggested the impact of the younger people’s reaction on the elderly people’s psychological development and behavior.

Purpose of the study We examined the relationships among development of generativity, generative acts, and psychological well-being in old age and the possible mediating effects of perceived rejection and respect from younger generations. We hypothesized that generative action would not lead to well-being unless responding elders perceived respect from younger generations, and, further, that perceived respect would predict the development of generativity. Design and methods In Study 1, we sampled 252 older persons to verify our hypothetical model in a cross-sectional survey. We assessed generative concern, generative action, perceived rejection from younger people, and psychological well-being. In Study 2, the same measures and a new scale to measure perceived respect from younger people were administered in a longitudinal survey. Four hundred older adults responded at 2 time points, 12 months apart. Results Path analysis showed that the effect of generative action on ill-being was mediated by perceived rejection and respect from younger generations. Perceived respect from younger generations at baseline predicted an increase in generative concern 12 months later. Implications The results suggest that positive intergenerational interaction leads to generativity development and better well-being in old age.

This study developed a Japanese version of the Valuation of Life (VOL) scale, to measure psychological wellbeing among older adults. In Analysis 1, we conducted a factor analysis of 13 items, and identified two factors: positive VOL and spiritual well-being. These factors had adequate degrees of internal consistency, and were related to positive mental health. In Analysis 2, we examined sociodemographic, social, and health predictors for VOL. The role of social factors was stronger than the role of health factors, and spiritual well-being was more related to moral or religious activities than positive VOL. These results suggest that predictors for VOL vary by culture. In Analysis 3, we investigated the relationship between VOL and desired years of life. Positive VOL significantly predicted more desired years of life, whereas spiritual well-being did not. Positive VOL had acceptable reliability and validity. Future research is required to investigate whether VOL predicts survival duration or end-of-life decisions.

Previous studies comparing prospective memory between the elderly and young adults have shown that elderly adults perform better in naturalistic settings, while young adults perform better in laboratory settings. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors influence prospective memory in naturalistic settings, and we specifically focused on age, the complexity of the prospective memory task, self-evaluation and knowledge of memory function, retrospective memory, external memory aids, and internal memory strategies as potential influential factors. Eighty-six healthy, elderly participants were enrolled (44 women and 42 men, mean age = 68.56 years, SD = 4.53). The results showed that the use of external memory aids increased in complex prospective memory tasks that depended on output monitoring, while other factors did not influence prospective memory performance. These results suggest that elderly adults can perform tasks adequately by using external memory aids that compensate for age-related memory declines in naturalistic settings.

This study examined the associations between the complexity of an individual's primary lifetime occupation and his or her late-life memory and reasoning performance, using data from 824 community-dwelling participants aged 69-72 years. The complexity of work with data, people, and things was evaluated based on the Japanese job complexity score. The associations between occupational complexity and participant's memory and reasoning abilities were examined in multiple regression analyses. An association was found between more comple work with people and higher memory performance, as well as between more complex work with data and higher reasoning performance, after having controlled for gender, school records, and education. Further, an interaction effect was observed between gender and complexity of work with data in relation to reasoning performance: work involving a high degree of complexity with data was associated with high reasoning performance in men. These findings suggest the need to consider late-life cognitive functioning within the context of adulthood experiences, specifically those related to occupation and gender.

This study examined the effects of the reactions of younger adukts toward older adults on the psychological attributese and behavior of elderly. Participants were 34 older male adults aged 60-82 years. They completed a questionnaire on generativity before and after the experimental condition, and were also observed taking flyers on different topics after the experiment. They were assigned to the younger condition or the same generation condition. In both conditions, the participants were asked to talk to recipients about experiences from their youth and the wisdom they have gained. The recipients responded to the participants in either a positive or a neutral way. The results showed that generativity was promoted most when the younger recipients responded in a positive manner, whereas the neutral reactions of younger recipients led to the inhibition of generativity. Younger persons' positive reactions promoted the participants' helping behaviors, as indicated by the flyers they took. The present study shows increases in the generativity of the elderly following positive reactions from younger recipients not only on questionnaires but also in an experimental setting.

The purpose of this study was to verify a model of motivation for altruistic behavior toward the young generation in elderly people. Erikson's developmental task theory and concept of “generativity” was used as the basis of a hypothetic model. We assumed that memory about parents in childhood has a direct impact on motivation for participating in child-support, and has an indirect impact through generativity and the view of child rearing. Also, the view of child rearing has an indirect impact through generativity. Data was analyzed from questionnaires completed by 236 elderly people (M = 68.35 years old, SD = 7.64 years). Structural equation modeling showed that the effect of memory about parents and the view of child rearing on the motivation for participating in child-support were mediated by generativity. These results suggested that generativity is a key concept in explaining the motivation for altruistic behavior toward the young generation in elderly people.

日本社会心理学会2014年度第55回大会

日本社会心理学会2013年度第54回大会