The Effects of Inter-Generational Educational Experiences on Adolescents and Older Adults at the University of Valencia (Spain).

Intergenerational programs are proliferating. The basic assumption is that pairing older and younger people in various activities and contexts such as educational programs will produce positive developmental benefits for all participants. Developmental theories in this area need to address more directly the potential of intergenerational relationships, and the impacts of intergenerational programs for both young and adult groups. The goal of this paper is to exam the effects of the instructional program on both traditional and non-traditional students with regards to their personal conflict resolution ability, scientific understanding and level of knowledge, and their social responsibility attitude. Participants are both traditional and non-traditional students at the University of Valencia, Spain. The main objective of this program is to encourage contact between generations, in particular between young and older adult students. Older adult students share with younger students the instruction and academic activities. The effects of the educational experiences with regards to the ability to improve personal conflict resolution and resolve personal problems seems to be higher for traditional adolescent students. On the other hand, non-traditional older adults students seem to do equal or even better than younger students with respect to their acquisition of scientific knowledge and their level of social responsibility. Although these initial group differences are only indicative they are in the expected direction indicating that social integration would be more relevant for older adults and that younger adults seem to focus more on strengthening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]