Cross-Cultural Dimensions of Communication in Aging: A Review and Update

This article reviews and updates the current state of communication, culture, and aging research. Although novel avenues of investigation within the discipline continue to evolve, extant research findings are categorized into three principal areas. First, and somewhat counterintuitively, evidence suggests individuals in many East Asian cultures report meaningfully greater negative attitudes toward older people than those in North American, Western European, and Australasian samples, a finding that requires contextual interpretation regarding cultural norms and the reporting of aging perceptions. Second, cultures may be becoming more similar in their perceptions of aging due to factors including modernization and cultural convergence, and third, there is considerable interregional variability (e.g., within Asia) in people's perceptions of communication and aging. Communication, whether mediated, face-to-face, or other, is central to how we relate to and interact with those of the same and different ages.