Bringing Our Old and Young Together to Improve Community Mental Health and Wellbeing

Hagestad and Uhlenberg’s incisive article makes clear the roots of ageism and age segregation, with age integration requiring stable and lasting interactions across generations. Standardized curricula and age segregation in schools take little account of individual differences in development, creativity, and talents among children and youth. Similar failures bedevil institutions for older people. In the UK, nonprofit community-based organizations are bringing young and old together with impressive results.