ABSTRACT
The current study is part of a larger study that examines older adults’ reports of intergenerational conflict with college-age grandchildren and nonfamily young adults in the United States. Of the 427 older participants we initially recruited, 246 older adults (i.e., 57.6 percent) indicated there was no conflict in their intergenerational relationships with young adults. Therefore, this study examined the 246 older adults’ (M age = 73.64) written accounts about communication characteristics they contributed to a lack of conflict in intergenerational relationships. Content analysis results indicated that lack of interaction, respect, and interpersonal boundaries were the most frequently reported themes, followed by relational closeness, understanding of the other’s perspective, attentive communication and listening, and topics of mutual interest. In addition, respect and relational closeness were reported more frequently in intergenerational relationships with grandchildren and understanding, lack of interaction, and interpersonal boundaries were reported more frequently with young adults in nonfamilial intergenerational relationships.
