Age-related differences in how speakers relay news in face-threatening contexts
Following recent work on pragmatics and ageing, this study investigates how adults of different ages relay bad news in face-threatening situations. Three factors were manipulated between subjects: the recipient (whether or not they were affected by the news), the severity of the news, and whether or not the news was health-related. Participants (N=280; ages 18-89) delivered bad news both through open-ended responses and by selecting probability terms from multiple choice. Responses were coded for indirectness, uncertainty and emotion, and supported our initial predictions: younger adults were more sensitive to the recipient manipulation than older adults, while both age groups adjusted their speech similarly depending on the severity of the news. Older adults engaged in more face saving when the number of health scenarios increased, although they did not switch strategy across scenarios. Our results are consistent with previous evidence that younger adults are better at audience design than older adults. However, we also found that these skills are partially context-dependent, and could vary due to life circumstances and different communicative strategies at different ages.