Intergenerational Tension or Cohesion during the COVID-19 Pandemic?: A Letter-writing Study with Older New Zealanders

ABSTRACT

This paper examines older people’s experiences of intergenerational interaction during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Aotearoa, New Zealand (NZ). This paper presents an analysis of a letter-writing study with older people (mean = 77 years) living in NZ. A total of 760 letters were received from 870 participants. A sub-sample of 412 letters focused on intergenerational interaction were analyzed thematically. This analysis presents a mostly positive picture of intergenerational interaction particularly on the family and neighborhood level. Letters highlighted narratives of mutual concern and positive interactions between generations while also hinting at some underlying age-related tension on a societal level.

KEYWORDS:

• Intergenerational
• social connection
• older adults
• COVID-19
• ageism

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Hope Foundation for funding the first author’s summer studentship. We thank the Auckland Medical Research Foundation</#funding-source;temp> for providing the financial support this this study. We want to thank Age Concern for supporting this study. We thank the Te Arai Palliative and End of Life Care Advisory Roopu for their guidance and active support. We want to thank everyone involved in the recruitment of participants as well as the generosity of participants who shared their stories. Thank you to Jing Xu for supporting Chinese participants to take part in this study. Thank to Eloise Woodley-Phillips for supporting the creation of the Have our Say database.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Statement of ethical approval

Ethical approval was granted through the University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee (reference number 024568).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Auckland Medical Research Foundation 3721702 and support from the HOPE Foundation NZ.