Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T02:53:30.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Meanings of television in older adults' lives: an analysis of change and continuity in television viewing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2011

MARGOT VAN DER GOOT ,
JOHANNES W. J. BEENTJES  and
MARTINE VAN SELM
MARGOT VAN DER GOOT*
Affiliation:
Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
JOHANNES W. J. BEENTJES
Affiliation:
Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
MARTINE VAN SELM
Affiliation:
Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
*
Address for correspondence: Margot van der Goot, Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Television viewing is an important leisure activity for older adults. The aim of the current study is to provide insight into the meanings of television in older adults' lives, by analysing change and continuity in their television viewing. A qualitative study was conducted that included in-depth interviews on television viewing among a diverse sample of Dutch people aged 65 years and older (N=86). The interview study shows that television has a variety of meanings for older adults. The meanings of television viewing changed in response to changes in everyday life, but this did not happen unidirectionally. Retirement, physical changes and changes in household composition led to increases as well as decreases in television viewing. Watching more television was experienced in both positive and negative ways. After a loss in the interpersonal sphere, television viewing can play a valuable role in adaptation processes, but it was also experienced as an activity that needs to be avoided. With regard to television content we found that some programmes gained importance when people age, whereas other programmes became less important or attractive. These changes in television viewing occurred for only part of the sample and some interviewees experienced continuity in the status of viewing and in their content preferences. The results are discussed in the context of recent literature on leisure constraints, leisure as coping, and adaptation strategies.

Keywords

media usetelevision viewingqualitative researchinterview studyolder adultsageing
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 147 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atchley, R. C. 1989. A continuity theory of normal aging. Gerontologist, 29, 2, 183–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. B. 1990. Psychological perspectives on successful aging: the model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. B. (eds), Successful Aging. Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bliese, N. W. 1986. Media in the rocking chair: media uses and functions among the elderly. In Gumpert, G. and Cathcart, R. (eds), Intermedia: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World. Oxford University Press, New York, 573–82.Google Scholar
Carstensen, L. L., Fung, H. H. and Charles, S. T. 2003. Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 2, 103–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W. and Shiner, R. L. 2005. Personality development: stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 453–84.Google Scholar
Charmaz, K. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Coleman, P. 1991. Ageing and life history: the meaning of reminiscence in late life. In Dex, S. (ed.), Life and Work History Analyses: Qualitative and Quantitative Developments. Routledge, London, 120–43.Google Scholar
Coyne, I. T. 1997. Sampling in qualitative research. Purposeful and theoretical sampling; merging or clear boundaries? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26, 3, 623–30.Google Scholar
Dimmick, J. W., McCain, T. A. and Bolton, W. T. 1979. Media use and the life-span: notes on theory and method. American Behavioral Scientist, 23, 1, 7–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doolittle, J. C. 1979. News media use by older adults. Journalism Quarterly, 56, 311–7. 345.Google Scholar
Elder, G. H. Jr.. 1998. The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69, 1, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gauntlett, D. and Hill, A. 1999. TV Living: Television, Culture and Everyday Life. Routledge in association with the British Film Institute, London.Google Scholar
Graney, M. J. 1974. Media use as a substitute activity in old age. Journal of Gerontology, 29, 3, 322–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guba, E. G. 1981. Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries. Educational Communication and Technology Journal, 29, 75–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddon, L. 2000. Social exclusion and information and communication technologies: lessons from studies of single parents and the young elderly. New Media and Society, 2, 4, 387–406.Google Scholar
Hajjar, W. J. 1998. Television in the Nursing Home: A Case Study of the Media Consumption Routines and Strategies of Nursing Home Residents. Haworth Press, New York.Google Scholar
Harwood, J. 2007. Understanding Communication and Aging: Developing Knowledge and Awareness. Sage, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Heckhausen, J. and Schulz, R. 1993. Optimization by selection and compensation: balancing primary and secondary control in life-span development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 16, 2, 287–303.Google Scholar
Hofmann, D. and Schwender, C. 2007. Biographical functions of cinema and film preferences among older German adults: a representative quantitative survey. Communications. The European Journal of Communication Research, 32, 4, 473–91.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, S. L., Loy, D. P., Kleiber, D. A. and Dattilo, J. 2003. Leisure as a coping resource: variations in coping with traumatic injury and illness. Leisure Sciences, 25, 2/3, 143–61.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, S. L., Yarnal, C. M., Staffordson, J. and Kerstetter, D. L. 2008. Beyond fun and friendship: the Red Hat Society as a coping resource for older women. Ageing & Society, 28,7, 979–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janke, M. C., Nimrod, G. and Kleiber, D. A. 2008. Leisure activity and depressive symptoms of widowed and married women in later life. Journal of Leisure Research, 40, 2, 250–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jerrome, D. and Wenger, G. C. 1999. Stability and change in late-life friendships. Ageing & Society, 19, 6, 661–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kite, M. E. and Wagner, L. S. 2002. Attitudes toward older adults. In Nelson, T. D. (ed.), Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Kleiber, D., McGuire, F. A., Aybar-Damali, B. and Norman, W. 2008. Having more by doing less: the paradox of leisure constraints in later life. Journal of Leisure Research, 40, 3, 343–59.Google Scholar
Kleiber, D. A. and Nimrod, G. 2009. ‘I can't be very sad’: constraint and adaptation in the leisure of a ‘learning in retirement’ group. Leisure Studies, 28, 1, 67–83.Google Scholar
Kleiber, D. A., Reel, H. A. and Hutchinson, S. L. 2008. When distress gives way to possibility: the relevance of leisure in adjustment to disability. Neurorehabilitation, 23, 4, 321–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kubey, R. W. 1980. Television and aging: past, present, and future. Gerontologist, 20, 1, 16–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mares, M. L., Oliver, M. B. and Cantor, J. 2008. Age differences in adults' emotional motivations for exposure to films. Media Psychology, 11, 4, 488–511.Google Scholar
Mares, M. L. and Woodard, E. 2006. In search of the older audience: adult age differences in television viewing. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 50, 4, 595–614.Google Scholar
McMellon, C. A. and Schiffman, L. G. 2000. Cybersenior mobility: why some older consumers may be adopting the internet. Advances in Consumer Research, 27, 139–44.Google Scholar
McMellon, C. A. and Schiffman, L. G. 2002. Cybersenior empowerment: how some older individuals are taking control of their lives. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 21, 2, 157–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyersohn, R. 1961. A critical examination of commercial entertainment. In Kleemeier, R. W. (ed.), Aging and Leisure. Oxford University Press, New York, 258–79.Google Scholar
Mundorf, N. and Brownell, W. 1990. Media preferences of older and younger adults. Gerontologist, 30, 5, 685–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nimrod, G. 2008. In support of innovation theory: innovation in activity patterns and life satisfaction among recently retired individuals. Ageing & Society, 28, 6, 831–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nimrod, G. 2010. Seniors' online communities: a quantitative content analysis. The Gerontologist, 50, 3, 382–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nimrod, G. and Adoni, H. 2006. Leisure-styles and life satisfaction among recent retirees in Israel. Ageing & Society, 26, 4, 607–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nimrod, G. and Kleiber, D. A. 2007. Reconsidering change and continuity in later life: toward an innovation theory of successful aging. International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 65, 1, 1–22.Google Scholar
Ostman, R. E. and Jeffers, D. W. 1983. Life stage and motives for television use. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 17, 4, 315–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patton, M. Q. 2002. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Third edition, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Peiser, W. 1999. The television generation's relation to the mass media in Germany: accounting for the impact of private television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 43, 3, 364–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press 2008. 2008 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press News Consumption and Believability Study. Available online at: http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/444.pdf [Accessed 20 May 2009].Google Scholar
Pushkar, D., Andres, D., Etezadi, J., Arbuckle, T., Schwartzman, A. and Chaikelson, J. 1995. Structural equation model of intellectual change and continuity and predictors of intelligence in older men. Psychology and Aging, 10, 2, 294–303.Google Scholar
Pushkar, D., Chaikelson, J., Conway, M., Etezadi, J., Giannopoulus, C., Li, K. and Wrosch, C. 2010. Testing continuity and activity variables as predictors of positive and negative affect in retirement. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65B, 1, 42–9.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. D., Skill, T. and Turner, J. W. 2004. Media usage patterns and portrayals of seniors. In Nussbaum, J. F. and Coupland, J. (eds), Handbook of Communication and Aging Research. Second edition, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, 423–46.Google Scholar
Rosengren, K. E. and Windahl, S. 1989. Media Matter: TV Use in Childhood and Adolescence. Ablex, Norwood, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Rubin, A. M. and Rubin, R. B. 1982. Older persons' TV viewing patterns and motivations. Communication Research, 9, 2, 287–313.Google Scholar
Schramm, W. 1969. Aging and mass communication. In Riley, M. W., Riley, J. W. and Johnson, M. E. (eds), Aging and Society. Volume 2: Aging and the Professions. Russell Sage, New York, 352–75.Google Scholar
Stevens, N. 1995. Gender and adaptation to widowhood in later life. Ageing & Society, 15, 37–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Second edition, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Thorson, J. A. 2000. Aging in a Changing Society. Second edition, Brunner/Mazel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Tulloch, J. 1989. Approaching the audience: the elderly. In Seiter, E., Borchers, H., Kreutzner, G. and Warth, E. M. (eds), Remote Control: Television, Audiences, and Cultural Power. Routledge, London, 180–230.Google Scholar
Van der Goot, M. 2009. Television viewing in the lives of older adults. Doctoral dissertation, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Van der Goot, M., Beentjes, J. W. J. and Van Selm, M. 2006. Older adults' television viewing from a lifespan perspective: past research and future challenges. In Beck, C. S. (ed.), Communication Yearbook 30. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, 431–69.Google Scholar
Vandebosch, H. and Eggermont, S. 2002. Elderly people's media use: at the crossroads of personal and societal developments. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 27, 2, 437–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wester, F. and Peters, V. 2000. Qualitative analysis: phases, techniques and computer use. In Pole, C. J. and Burgess, R. G. (eds), Cross Cultural Case Study. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 139–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willis, J. 1995. Staying in touch: television and the over-seventies. In Petrie, D. and Willis, J. (eds), Television and the Household. Reports from the BFI's Audience Tracking Study. British Film Institute, London, 32–48.Google Scholar
Wright, K. 2000. Computer-mediated social support, older adults, and coping. Journal of Communication, 50, 3, 100–18.Google Scholar