An Inclusive Community: Architecture for Age Integration

<p>Our elderly population is increasing and people are living longer. Healthcare advancements mean that illnesses are more controlled and people do not die as young. Due to our age-segregated society, the issue of elderly social isolation is at an all time high. Retirement villages are, for the most part, gated communities, isolated away from the rest of the younger population and wider community. The generation gap between young and older continues to broaden and issues such as elderly neglect, loneliness, financial abuse and other mental-health related problems are becoming more common. This research finds that many suburban community facilities often neglect the needs of this growing senior demographic. The site at 245 Karori Road, Karori, is used to test and challenge the norms of current suburban community architecture typologies for social inclusiveness. The site is tested in three iterative stages led by an interdisciplinary literature review to address this overarching problem of age-segregation in suburban communities. A major focus in this research is to target the suburb’s youngest and oldest members to shift negative ageist attitudes through providing spaces for intergenerational interaction. This research portfolio is a critique of current community architecture typologies such as the community centre and public space, to investigate ways these typologies could be redefined and altered to play a key role in countering the negative effects of age-segregation.</p>

An Inclusive Community: Architecture for Age Integration

<p>Our elderly population is increasing and people are living longer. Healthcare advancements mean that illnesses are more controlled and people do not die as young. Due to our age-segregated society, the issue of elderly social isolation is at an all time high. Retirement villages are, for the most part, gated communities, isolated away from the rest of the younger population and wider community. The generation gap between young and older continues to broaden and issues such as elderly neglect, loneliness, financial abuse and other mental-health related problems are becoming more common. This research finds that many suburban community facilities often neglect the needs of this growing senior demographic. The site at 245 Karori Road, Karori, is used to test and challenge the norms of current suburban community architecture typologies for social inclusiveness. The site is tested in three iterative stages led by an interdisciplinary literature review to address this overarching problem of age-segregation in suburban communities. A major focus in this research is to target the suburb’s youngest and oldest members to shift negative ageist attitudes through providing spaces for intergenerational interaction. This research portfolio is a critique of current community architecture typologies such as the community centre and public space, to investigate ways these typologies could be redefined and altered to play a key role in countering the negative effects of age-segregation.</p>

Perceived Elderly Stigma and Emotional Well-Being Among Korean Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

This study examined whether self-esteem mediates the association between perceived elderly stigma and emotional well-being (loneliness and emotional isolation) among Korean older adults, and how these processes differ by marital status. Using the 2018 Age Integration Survey, a cross-sectional national survey of adults in Korea, we analyzed data from 266 older adults aged 60 and older. Older adults who perceived greater elderly stigma reported higher levels of loneliness and emotional isolation. Self-esteem played a significant indirect role in the association between perceived elderly stigma and the two emotional well-being outcomes. Moderated mediation analyses further revealed significant differences by marital status; self-esteem was a more powerful mechanism among unmarried older adults relative to their married counterparts. The findings suggest that efforts to minimize public and internalized stigmatization of older adults and to improve their own self-esteem may be critical for their emotional well-being.

Development and Validation of the Age Integration Scale: Measuring Older Adults’ Intergenerational Attitudes

Opportunities for age integration (i.e., more intergenerational connections) are increasing among older adults, as a greater number live longer and are capable of interacting with younger individuals. Attitudes toward other generations can be considered a barrier that promotes or discourages intergenerational connections. While existing measures tend to focus on attitudes toward aging or older adults, they do not evaluate older adults’ attitudes toward younger individuals. Item response theory (IRT) was used to create an attitude scale evaluating older adults’ perceptions of their own age integration with younger individuals. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 100 older adults (55+ years old) who completed a 30-item age integration survey assessing their agreement (on a 5-point Likert scale) with statements about intergenerational beliefs and intentions to have intergenerational connections. IRT analyses supported a 10-item age integration scale indicating a unidimensional construct. The scale consists of items with moderate discrimination and difficulty levels on a 4-point Likert scale. Composite reliability of the 10-item scale was 0.83, which is considered substantial. Tests of convergent validity demonstrated that the total scale score correlated 0.68 with generativity. Discriminant validity tests suggest that the scale does not correlate strongly with satisfaction with life, purpose, depression, need for cognition, or considerations for future consequences, as the correlations ranged from -0.01 to 0.38. This novel measure provides an important, less-considered perspective of intergenerational relationships by assessing older adults’ attitudes toward younger individuals. Future studies will validate this scale in a larger, more generalizable sample.

Creative Cities Creating Connections: Fostering Cross-Age Interaction Through Leisure

Older and younger people interact infrequently in most social realms – a pattern stemming from institutional, cultural, and spatial age segregation. Increasing cross-age interaction offers promise as a strategy for not only enhancing social connections but also reducing ageist attitudes. We argue that a social realm with untapped potential for creating these connections is leisure, particularly within creative cities. To explore this possibility, our study examines cross-age interactions in Key West, Florida – a leisure-oriented city that promotes creativity through its social and built environment. Using participant-observation and interview data (n=126) from 2017 to 2019, we examined leisure experiences of tourists and residents, aged 23 to 83. Findings indicate that creative cultural contexts can counter ageist attitudes by promoting cross-age interaction. Data analysis revealed three processes encouraging these shifts – promoting diversity and acceptance, enhancing older adults’ participation, and nurturing intergenerational bonds. Ongoing cross-age interactions were fostered through the island’s welcoming philosophy and encouragement of out-group acceptance and diversity. They were further fostered by the island’s wide array of leisure activities and proximity of shared spaces that enabled older adults to readily pursue leisure with younger people. Cross-age ties also were promoted by the island’s focus on family-friendly leisure experiences. Our research highlights the potential of creative cities to promote age integration, and reduce ageism, through its cultural practices within leisure spaces.

PRESENCE AND PREDICTORS OF FAMILIAL AND NON-FAMILIAL AGE-INTEGRATED SOCIAL NETWORKS

A growing older adult population living longer provides opportunities for greater age-integration, which includes reducing age-related structural barriers and increasing cross-age interactions (Riley & Riley, 2000). While research on the theoretical construct of age-integration is prevalent, empirical evidence of age-integration in older adults’ social networks is lacking (Hagestad & Uhlenburg, 2005). This study uses the National Health and Aging Trends Study to quantify and characterize age-integrated social networks in the United States, and to understand the sociodemographic predictors of these age-integrated relationships. Participants’ social networks, comprised of respondents’ spouses, household members, children, helpers, care recipients, and up to five individuals they share important things with were considered age-integrated if individuals were at least 10 years younger than the respondent. About 96% of respondents reported at least one person 10+ years younger than them. Further, these relationships were coded as familial (i.e., spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, siblings, and other relatives) and non-familial relationships (i.e., other non-relatives) and analyses predicting age-integrated relationships as a function of sociodemographic characteristics were stratified by relationship type. Weighted multilevel logistic regression analyses suggest that females have lower odds of familial and non-familial age-integration than males; compared to white and married individuals, Black and Hispanic individuals have greater odds of familial and non-familial age-integration; compared to married individuals, separated, divorced, and widowed individuals have greater odds of familial age-integration, and those who were never married have greater odds of non-familial age-integration. This foundational study reveals that sociodemographic factors differentially predict familial and non-familial age-integrated social networks.