Taiwanese older adults’ perceptions of aging and communication with peers and young adults

Abstract

This study examined interview accounts from thirty-one Taiwanese older adults’ about their inter- and intra-generational communication experiences, and perceptions of today’s young and older people. Thematic analysis showed that Taiwanese older adults tended to initiate conversation topics accommodative to young people’s lives such as their job and marriage, whereas conversation topics with their old-age peers centered on adjustment into senior years (e.g., health, exercise) and their children’s achievement. Analysis also revealed some of the Taiwanese older adults’ major perceptions of young people (e.g., less respectful towards elders) and their peers (e.g., losing status in the family). The discursive strategies used in constructing such perceptions (e.g., discourse on self exception, denial of self inclusion) demonstrated the ways in which they negotiated and managed their age identity in inter- and intra-generational communication. Results are discussed in light of Social Identity Theory, Communication Accommodation Theory, age identity, filial piety, and culture change.