The Role of Media in Predicting Older Adults’ Own Age-Related Communication and Successful Aging

Abstract

Maximizing experiences of successful aging is one important public policy goal given the large number of Baby Boomers aging into older adulthood. Using the communicative ecology model of successful aging, this study examined how older adults’ experiences with various media predict their own age-related communication patterns and successful aging. Older adults were classified into unfavorable, neutral, and favorable portrayals of aging profiles based on their assessments of how positively specific media genres depict the aging process. They were also classified as engaged, bantering, and disengaged agers based on their own age-related communication patterns. Participants in the unfavorable and neutral media profiles were most likely to be engaged agers; participants in the favorable media profile were most likely to be bantering agers. Relative to participants in the favorable media profile, participants in the unfavorable and neutral media profiles demonstrated greater realization of successful aging, via higher aging efficacy. Results suggest the merit of future research examining how participants in the favorable portrayals of aging profile may be engaging in upward social comparisons with older characters in the media to the detriment of their own well-being.

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