Can Intergenerational Mentoring Prevent Ageism?

Abstract

Intergenerational mentoring is a way to break down barriers between different generations by utilizing mentoring. Intergenerational mentoring with older adults provides opportunities for activities and learning for young people. Various studies have suggested that providing opportunities for older adults and younger adults to spend time together could be an excellent opportunity to debunk many of the beliefs that young people may have about older adults. Stereotyping or discrimination of someone due to age is known as ageism. Empathy has been shown to be associated with ageism. Higher empathy scores were negatively correlated with total ageism scores meaning that the more empathy a person has, the less ageism that they possess. Therefore, it could be that providing opportunities for the generations to spend time together could increase their empathy for that group and reduce their ageism.