Sally Newman

An Observational Study of Intergenerational Activities and Behavior Change in Dementing Elders at Adult Day Care Centers

This study investigated whether dementing adult day care clients demonstrate consistent positive behaviors (i.e., eye contact, smiling, attentiveness, etc.) during structured, weekly activities with young children that these adults do not demonstrate during similar activities when the young children are not present. The study built on a preliminary informal study conducted in conjunction with an intergenerational adult day care project. Participants for the study were twenty-one adult day care clients who have behavioral characteristics of Alzheimers or related disorders. The study involved five consective weeks of planned, structured music activities prepared by a musical therapist as part of the regular intergenerational activities of the adult day care center. The same activities were repeated twice in the same day at each site, once with children present and once without them present. Two fixed videotape cameras recorded client behaviors in three-minute segments. Scoring was completed by trained, “blind” scorers. The scorers tallied positive behaviors by individuals for randomly selected ten-second segments of the taped intervals. Sessions with and without children were compared using non-parametric tests. Categories of behaviors were compared and specific observed behavioral changes were reported.

EVERYDAY MEMORY FUNCTION OF OLDER ADULTS: THE IMPACT OF INTERGENERATIONAL SCHOOL VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS

A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the effects of volunteering in in‐tergenerational school programs on the memory functions of older adults. Actual everyday memory performance changes and older adults’ perceptions of their memory performance change as a result of weekly participation in an intergenerational school volunteer program were examined. The effects of participation were investigated according to subjects’ age and educational level. Twenty‐six volunteers, age 60 or older, served as subjects. Various instruments were used to measure performance on memory tasks, subjects’ perceptions of their memory functioning, and self‐ratings of mood. Data were collected at three time points. The results are presented as descriptive data.

BENEFITS OF INTERGENERATIONAL STAFFING IN PRESCHOOLS

This article reports on a national study of older adults working in childcare as volunteers or aides. Observations, interviews, and a rating scale were used to identify the unique contributions of older adults who have not been formally trained as early childhood educators. Findings showed that the nurturing presence of the older adults brought a familial dimension to these settings that complemented what younger, trained teachers provide in the classroom. Although their behaviors are not always consistent with professional standards for early childhood educators, they make a significant and unique contribution that enriches all participants. The authors make recommendations for training and support to include older adults effectively in preschool classrooms as part of an intergenerational caregiving team.

LATENCY‐AGED CHILDREN'S VIEWS OF AGING

This study investigated the contents of childrens attitudes toward the elderly and compared these attitudes with the childrens attitudes toward young people. The Childrens Views on Aging (CVOA) questionnaire was administered to 256 latency‐aged (8‐10 year‐old) children. The children were white and black, male and female, and came from both rural and urban backgrounds. The childrens responses to the CVOA were analyzed quantitatively using chi‐square and t‐tests. The results showed that children had some negative perceptions of the aging process, but positive views of the older person. Comparison of the childrens attitudes toward older people and young people showed that the childrens attitudes were more negative toward older people in the potency dimension of attitude but more positive toward older people in the evaluative dimension. The findings suggest that childrens attitudes toward aging are complex and diverse. Important implications for educational practice are discussed. This study formed par...

An Introductory Message from the Editor

For the past three decades, there has been an emerging interest in the “intergenerational notion”–referring to cross-generational interaction, typically among the old and the young. As a result of this notion, practitioners, academics and policy analysts interested in social programming have become familiar with intergenerational ideas, dialogues, activities, approaches, issues, relationships, and programs. We have become increasingly aware of informal intergenerational relationships within the family; intentional and planned program driven interactions among non-biologically connected younger and older persons; intergenerational approaches to social and community development issues; work opportunities for intergenerational specialists; and, most recently, a developing academic dialogue around an intergenerational field of study. Since the 1970s, persons across the world have been investigating many aspects of the intergenerational notion as we attempt to understand its familial, social, cultural, political and economic implications. In the United States, intergenerational work has been formally manifested as “intergenerational programming,” a structured approach to local and national issues affecting children, youth, and older adults. It exists in the international arena as a “social planning model” and is being viewed by community programmers, educators, and social policy strategists as a viable approach to positive global social change. Professionals, interested in reading or writing about intergenerational themes, have searched for venues that reported this information. They found a limited number of journals in social service fields such as aging, early childhood care, and education that periodically published an article from an intergenerational perspective. As interest in the intergenerational field continued to grow, both nationally and internationally, it became evident that the time had come to create a journal solely dedicated to this work. This journal would be a vehicle where professionals in different specialties such as gerontology, education, early childhood, family studies, human development, com-

Cultural Reflections on Shame and Guilt: An Intergenerational Dialogue

The following is a brief dialogue among Sally Newman, Jessica Rohan, and Joumana El Alaoui on the meaning of and examples of experiences of shame and guilt in their respective religious and cultural communities. The exchange comes as a result of Rohan’s recent fieldwork in Morocco and subsequent paper on the changing notions of shame in Moroccan society and their effects on intergenerational relationships. We compare our understandings of the concepts of shame and guilt growing up in three different religious traditions and hope that readers gain some insights from the similarities and differences we have experienced.

Remembering the Past and Preparing for an Intergenerational Future

In this final statement as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships (JIR), I present to our readers and board members my thoughts about the links between the intergenerational field and the evolution of our journal. The story reflects my recollections of the past 30 to 40 years when an interesting phenomenon was occurring in the United States. During this period, the United States was experiencing significant social change. There was a relocation of nuclear families due to a shift in economic opportunities and an increase in single-parent families because of parents’ divorces or separations. There was also a change in the presence of older adult residents in communities, a function of the increased number of persons living to 60 or more years of age. These social phenomena resulted in a geographic separation between the generations in our families. Some communities emerged with a predominance of young, two-generation families while the demography of other communities was represented by older adults who moved to climates more suitable for older populations or who remained in the family’s old neighborhood when younger families left to seek new economic opportunities. A result of this demographic shift was an emergence of communities in which there was often an absence of either older adults or children and youths. In the late 1970s, professionals in child, family, and human development, gerontology, and psychology began to discuss potential outcomes for our older and younger generations who do not experience the growth and

Introducing the Editors and the Special Issue

The title of this special issue, “Reflecting Back and Moving Forward: Shaping the Intergenerational Future,” sums up not just the substance of this issue’s content but also the momentous change occurring for the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships (JIR). After 12 years and 48 issues, Dr. Sally Newman is stepping down as the Editor-in-Chief and we have accepted the daunting challenge of following in her footsteps. The fact that it takes two of us reflects the very large hole that is left with Sally’s retirement and the growth of the journal under her tutelage. Sally has been an instrumental leader in growing not only this journal but the whole field of intergenerational programming, and many of us have been directly or indirectly influenced by her efforts. It is our challenge to continue to grow the journal as it moves forward, so we include a few brief words about ourselves; somewhat longer biographies can be found at the end of this article. Dr. Leng Leng Thang is an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, Department of Japanese Studies. She published the first ethnography of an age-integrated facility in Asia and also researched on grandparenthood in Asia. Leng Leng has been an active member of the JIR Editorial Board since its inception in 2003. She has been serving as Associate Editor of JIR together with Dr. Alan Hatton-Yeo since 2012. Dr. Rafael Engel is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work (SSW) and Chair of the SSW’s Gerontology Certificate. When Ray came to Pitt, Sally was one of the first faculty members to reach out to him, and he joined the Board of Generations Together in 1990. In his dual role of board member and faculty member, he joined with Sally on several intergenerational research training projects as well as papers. The wonders of technology have enabled us to have many conversations, whether they be via e-mail or face-to-face through Skype. While the