“How to live happily?” Ca’ Foscari and Cornell launch interviews between generations

06/04/2017

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What are the secrets to living your life to the full? Everyone wants an answer to this question, but who do we turn to for it? Researchers from Ca’ Foscari and from Cornell University have thought to ask the elderly, as well as involving young people.

Thus a international research program was born, that brought young people from high school face to face with ‘veterans’ who have spent over 65 years gaining experience and wisdom. The objective is at least twofold: to collect valuable suggestions, but also to recover a closer relationship between generations, combating prejudices.

“One of our main objectives is to fight the strong and pervasive prejudices linked to age, that exist as much in Europe as in the United States” explains Karl Pillemer, professor at Cornell University and creator of “The Legacy Project”. “In recent years we have been asking around two thousand elderly Americans to give young people practical suggestions on how to live life to the full. Speaking to the elderly is a natural thing. As part of being human we have had the advice of the more experienced for thousands of years, and it is only in recent years that we have started to use other sources. The two books that we have written in the course of our project have already influenced the thinking of many people regarding the role and the contribution of the elderly in society.”

Today Pillemer’s project has a European version; “Building a Legacy Community Together”. The project takes place in Veneto and is created from the collaboration between Ca’ Foscari scholars Barbara Baschiera and Fiorino Tessaro.

A group of high school students is interviewing ‘veterans’ from Agorà, an association from Padua, involving various centers of the non-profit organization OIC with the aim to also include the disabled elderly. The comparison between the Italian and the American results will give scholars the opportunity to compare the two different realities. What we already know is that in Italy the relationships between generations are stronger than those in the US. Nevertheless, notes Barbara Baschiera, “there is a difference between the relationships with grandparents and those with other old people, and the gap increases as the younger generation grows".

Well before academic results, however, the project ensures immediate benefits for participants. The eldery, Pillemer assures, gain self esteem from us: “The elderly are thankful that someone is showing interest in listening to them attentively, improving their mindset”. Furthermore, Barbara Baschiera adds, “they are developing fundamental relational skills to communicate with young people”. On the other hand, the young people learn to listen and to apply social research methods.

The results of the interviews will be presented on the 18th May at Civitas Vitae, organised by the OIC Foundation (Padua) and on the 19^th May at Ca’ Foscari.