Intergenerational communication – an interdisciplinary mapping review of research between 1996 and 2017

ABSTRACT

Concerns have been raised regarding the limited opportunities for intergenerational communication both outside and within the family. This “mapping review” draws together empirical literature in the topic published since 1996. Three hundred and twenty-four published studies met inclusion criteria, based on abstract review. The contents of each study were subjected to thematic analysis and nine broad themes emerged. These were (1) Dynamics of relationships, (2) Health & Well-being, (3) Learning & Literacy, (4) Attitudes, (5) Culture, (6) Digital, (7) Space, (8) Professional Development, and (9) Gender & Sexual Orientation. Studies commonly intersected disciplinary research areas. There was a marked rise across three key academic journals since 2007. An emergent finding was that a third of the studies relate to programs addressing intergenerational interventions, but many of these were primarily descriptive and failed to specify a primary outcome. Review implications and future research directions are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Intergenerational research
• communication
• relationships
• programs
• interventions

Notes

^1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/04/generation-gap-social-divisions- young-old-age-segregation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Newcastle University.

Notes on contributors

James Law

Dr. James Law is Professor of Speech and Language Science in the School of Education, Communication and Language Science at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. His research foci include secondary data analyses of birth cohort following children through into adulthood and the science behind interventions to promote communication skills in children and young people.

Tony Johnstone Young

Dr. Tony Johnstone Young is Reader in Applied Linguistics and Communication in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. His research interests focus on intergroup and intercultural communication in care and educational settings.

Joana Almeida

Dr. Joana Almeida is a Research Associate in Education at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University. Her main research interests focus on the internationalization of higher education and cross-cultural communication. She is also interested in interdisciplinary research and innovative research methods in the social sciences.

Samuel Ginja

Dr. Samuel Ginja is a Research Associate in Behavior Analysis at the School of Psychology at Ulster University in the United Kingdom. His main research interests include understanding and improving the health and well-being of young people. The present research was conducted while Dr. Ginja was still a Research Associate at the Institute of Health and Society, at Newcastle University.