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The extent to which the world is greying has been well documented. For example,
in the United States at the beginning of this millenium, the older adult population in the
United States represented over 13% of the total population, and is projected to be
approximately 20 percent of the American population by 2003. (Older Americans 2000:
Key Indicators of Well-Being, 2000). Projections from the Census Bureau and National
Institute on Aging suggest that most nations will experience a dramatic increase in their
older adult populations in the near future. The majority of the recent increases in the
older adult population worldwide have occurred in developing countries, with those 65
and older accounting for as much as one-third of the global population by year 2150
(World’s older population growing by an unprecedented 800,000 a month, 2001).
Despite the increasing importance of older adults in the economic and socio-
political arenas of American culture, until a decade ago there was a dearth of research by
communication scholars on aging and intergenerational communication. The
communication literature since has uncovered disparate results for the cognitive and
communicative abilities of older adults ranging from a period of wisdom and reflection to
its negative complement epitomized by severe decrement and senility (Coleman, 1995;
Glendenning, 1995; Kemper & Lyons, 1994; Rook, 1995). One aspect of aging that has
received systematic treatment in the social scientific literature concerns stereotypes
associated with age (Ashmore & Del Boca, 1981; Heckhausen, Dixon & Baltes, 1989;
Hummert 1990; Hummert, Garstka, Shaner & Strahm, 1994; Hummert, Garstka, Shaner
& Strahm, 1995; Hummert, Shaner & Garstka, 1995; Hummert, Shaner, Garstka &
Henry, 1998). Past work has focused on the conception of multiple stereotypes,
accounting for differences in both trait organization and overall attitude toward members
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Convention