Communication for Successful Aging

The Biennial Jake Harwood Outstanding Book Award 2024 National Communication Association Communication and Ageing Division, Outstanding Book Award 2023 This essential volume explores the vital role of communication in the aging process and how this varies for different social groups and cultural communities. It reveals how communication can empower people in the process of aging, and that how we communicate about age is critically important to - and is at the heart of - aging successfully. Giles et al. confront the uncertainty and negativity surrounding "aging" - a process with which we all have to cope - by expertly placing communication at the core of the process. They address the need to avoid negative language, discuss the lifespan as an evolving adventure, and introduce a new theory of successful aging - the communication ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA). They explore the research on key topics including: age stereotypes, age identities, and messages of ageism; the role of culture, gender, ethnicity, and being a member of marginalized groups; the ingredients of intergenerational communication; depiction of aging and youth in the media; and how and why talk about death and dying can be instrumental in promoting control over life's demands. Communication for Successful Aging is essential reading for graduate students of psychology, human development, gerontology, and communication, scholars in the social sciences, and all of us concerned with this complex academic and highly personal topic.

Howard Giles, PhD, DSc, is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Communication Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Honorary Professor in the School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Jessica Gasiorek is an Associate Professor in the Communicology program at the University of Hawai-i at Manoa, USA.Dr. Shardé M. Davis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Faculty Affiliate of various research institutes at the University of Connecticut, USA. Jane Giles is a software consultant and author with a background in psychology and education.

1. Matters of Communication and Aging 2. Messages of Agism and Age Stereotypes 3. Age Identities: What Are They and How Do They Emerge? 4. The Ingredients of Intergenerational Communication 5. The Media, Agism, and Anti-Aging 6. Talking About Death - Or Not 7. Successful Aging and Communication 8. Conclusions and Vistas: Communicating Resilience, Hope, and Empowerment