Title: Aging, Older Adults, and Later Life: An Exploration of Kinesiology Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions and Experiences
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Laura Hurd
Committee members: Dr. Ben Mortenson, Dr. Carolyn McEwen
Defence Chair: Dr. Guy Faulkner
Abstract: In this study, I explored kinesiology students’ perceptions and experiences of aging, older adults, and later life during the COVID-19 pandemic. The global population is aging, and many kinesiology students will go on to pursue careers in which they work with older adults in various capacities, including as primary and allied healthcare professionals, exercise specialists, and educators. Current research suggests that age prejudice is pervasive in society and is multi-faceted, and that university students often hold primarily negative attitudes about aging, older adults, and later life. Although ageism is well-documented, relatively few studies have focused on kinesiology students, or used in-depth interviews, and, to my knowledge, none have been conducted during or following the recent global pandemic. The purpose of this study was to learn about kinesiology undergraduate students’ experiences, perceptions, and attitudes regarding aging, older adults, and later life. The study involved 11 student participants, who were administered a short survey and then interviewed. I interviewed two students once and the remaining nine were interviewed twice for a total of 20 interviews and 23.5 interview hours. The study was guided by age-relations theory using an interpretive-constructivist lens that helped explore the broader socio-cultural dimensions underlying age-related stereotypes and power relations based on age. The survey results indicated that students viewed aging and older adults positively. However, the subsequent interviews revealed that the students held more complex and ambivalent views towards aging, older adults, and later life. My thematic analysis identified three overarching themes, namely (1) The Ambiguity of Older Identities, (2)The Paradoxes of Advanced Aging, and (3) Imagined Future Selves. The first theme pertained toparticipants’ ambiguous and conflicting perceptions of older adults’ identities. The second themereferred to the tendency of participants to perceive advanced aging as encompassing both liberationand constraints. The third theme referred to participants’ hopes and fears as they envisionedthemselves as future older people. These findings suggest that my participants embodied the broadinterdisciplinary nature of their kinesiology education that afforded them deeper insights intocomplex issues. I discuss my findings in relation to the research and theorizing, offering suggestionsfor how kinesiology curriculum may be harnessed to address societal ageism.