Understanding Communication and Aging is the most accessible introductory text in the area of communication and aging. The book examines key topics such as interpersonal and family relationships in old age, media portrayals of aging, cultural variations in intergenerational communication, and health communication in old age. With a lively presentation style, the book presents central research findings in the area while engaging students more broadly in the important questions concerning communication and human aging: Why do some people age more successfully than others? What role does communication play in shaping our attitudes and feelings about getting older? Are there different or better ways in which we could get old? Students will emerge with a greater understanding of communication and aging research, and with a greater interest and sensitivity to the ways in which communication is shaped by, and itself influences, the aging process.

Author Biography

Jake Harwood (Ph.D., Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara) is Professor of Communication at the University of Arizona. He is author of Understanding Communication and Aging (2007, Sage) and co-editor of The Dynamics of Intergroup Communication (Peter Lang, 2011). His publications have appeared in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Human Communication Research, and the British Journal of Social Psychology, among others. His research focuses on intergroup communication with a particular focus on age groups. He is interested in the ways in which cognitive (e.g., stereotypes) and societal (e.g., mass media) representations of groups relate to communication processes.