Making Intergenerational Connections: An Evidence Review

Improving intergenerational attitudes and relationships is a public policy focus in many countries around the world. In response to this, many organisations arrange intergenerational contact programmes in which younger and older people interact, with the aim of fostering improved attitudes reducing ageism and other beneficial outcomes.

Many psychological research projects have examined the nature of social contact between different age groups, but evidence from these has never been synthesised to inform the design of intergenerational contact programmes. Consequently, practitioners have not benefited from optimal use of evidence which could reliably inform practice and policy. This review, for Age UK, aims to address the evidence-practice gap. We synthesise international evidence generated from 48 peer reviewed research studies and evaluate 31 intergenerational contact programmes to explore what aspects make them more or less successful and provide useful insights for programme design and public policy.