THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF EMERGING ELDERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITY ASSESSMENTS

The age-friendly movement to foster improved quality of life for older adults is expanding worldwide. Cities and communities across the world are examining what it means to be “age-friendly” by exploring the strengths and needs of their aging populations with respect to their unique environments. The term “emerging elders” has surfaced in age-friendly community assessment tools to denote a subset of older adults; however, limited guidance is provided in the lay or empirical literature on its application to aging populations. The goal of this study was to develop a data-driven definition for “emerging elders” as part of an age-friendly community assessment. Adults, age 55 and older, were asked about their subjective meaning of “emerging elder” within the context of aging well in a large U.S. metropolitan city. Using inductive and deductive methods, the researchers analyzed qualitative data (N=38) collected from individual interviews with homebound older adults (n =15) and participants of three focus groups (n = 23). Four themes suggest that emerging elderhood is related to chronological age, functional ability, life transitions, and redefining aging. Findings suggest that the term emerging elderhood may foster negative images of older adults consistent with Western cultural discourse, despite the positive connotations associated with “emerging elder” in indigenous and spiritual communities. We conclude with a call to action underscoring the need to further refine age friendly community assessments that take into account the cultural and social constructions ascribed to older adults and recommend strategies to engage emerging elders in future research of age-friendly communities.