Jun 3, 2014

Fowler, C., Gasiorek, J., and Giles, H. "Introducing the communicative ecology model of successful aging" was selected as the Top Paper in the Communication & Aging Division, to be presented at the National Communication Association, Chicago, November, 2014.

The present study introduces and tests the Communicative ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA). The CEMSA is predicated on the belief that individuals have agency over the aging process and, through their communicative practices, are able to construct environments or ecologies within which they are able to age more successfully. According to the model, uncertainty about the aging process and one's future stimulates both emotional and communicative response, each of which influences an individual's perceived efficacy to manage growing older. Ultimately, such feelings of efficacy are hypothesized to determine a person's subjective judgment that he or she is aging successfully. The six hypotheses constituting the CEMSA were tested using data gathered from 458 middle-aged (40-55 years) and older (65 years and older) New Zealanders via structural equation modelling. Although results suggest the need to refine elements of the model and instruments used to measure some of the variables it incorporates, five of seven communicative behaviors investigated had significant indirect effects on successful aging via affect and/or efficacy.

Contact: Howie Giles, giles@comm.ucsb.edu