The Benefits of Intergenerational Wisdom-Sharing: A Randomized Controlled Study

Karl Pillemer, Julia Nolte, Leslie Schultz, Harry Yau, Charles R. Henderson, Marie Tillema Cope and Barbara Baschiera
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Karl Pillemer: College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Julia Nolte: College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Leslie Schultz: College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Harry Yau: College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Charles R. Henderson: College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Marie Tillema Cope: College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Barbara Baschiera: Dipartimento di Filosofia e Beni Culturali, Università Ca’ Foscari, Dorsoduro 3246, 30123 Venice, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Adolescents’ opportunities to benefit from the life wisdom of older persons are very limited. To address this issue, we designed and tested the Building a Community Legacy Together (BCLT) program based on research on the benefits of older people’s wisdom for youth development. In the intervention, the youth participants were trained prior to conducting interviews with older persons regarding their advice for living. The youth participants analyzed the information obtained and presented a summary report to the community. The participants were 93 middle and high school youth who were randomly assigned to the treatment condition with the BCLT program ( n = 47) or to the control condition ( n = 46). The outcome measures included sense of purpose, self-esteem, attitudes toward older people, confidence interacting with older people, and interest in working with older people. Quantitative and qualitative data were also collected regarding the subjective assessments of the program’s success. We found significant positive effects for the BCLT participants regarding their sense of purpose in life, attitudes toward older people, comfort interacting with older people, and interest in working with older people. The subjective assessments of the participants were overwhelmingly positive. The findings indicate that BCLT had positive effects for the youth participants and support the further development and testing of wisdom-sharing intergenerational programs.

Keywords: intergenerational programs; wisdom; youth development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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