Divides Within the LGBT Community: Exploring the Impact of Generational Stereotypes

Abstract Age is a unique, often overlooked, aspect of identity, which is particularly problematic within the LGBT community. While sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity are central to the identities of LGBT people, they are verboten for older adults. Thus, older LGBT individuals’ voices are inadvertently silenced. This talk will present data that demonstrates the reinforcing role that stereotypes play in maintaining the generational divide and address some of the unique inter-generational differences within the LGBT+ community that arise from differential experiences of cultural acceptance and historical events of LGBT youth coming of age across decades. For example, in the 1970’s the DSM criteria would have classified LGBT people as mentally ill; stark contrast to the 2010’s in which LGBT youth have grown up with legal protections against hate crimes, and marriage equality as a basic right. We will conclude with a discussion on cultivating community and productive conversations across generations.


AGE AS AN OVERLOOKED ELEMENT OF DIVERSITY: APPROACHES TO ADDRESSING INTERGENERATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Chair: Allyson Graf Discussant: Amy Knepple Carney Outside of gerontology, age is an often underappreciated element of diversity. At a time when all generations must work together to provide inclusive, multi-faceted solutions to today's societal problems, ageist and generational stereotypes are often barriers to meaningful intergenerational exchanges. Age derogation and negative stereotypes have been used to splinter communities, perpetuate misinformation, and trivialize intergenerational conversations. As researchers, educators, and practitioners, we understand why age matters, but our students, community leaders, and employers may not. It is our disciplinary obligation to convince those who ignore, dismiss, or misrepresent age of the importance of this aspect of diversity for navigating any multigenerational setting. In this talk, we provide three approaches to addressing age-related beliefs in the classroom. We begin by exploring the impact of generational stereotypes within minority communities. For the LGBT community, negative stereotypes coupled with rapid social change have lead to a growing generational gap. We then shift perspectives to examine the role that lifespan developmental psychology can play in preparing students to enter a diverse multigenerational workforce. Here, we discuss research on age identity and generational identity as distinct and self-enhancing life-span processes, and highlight the developmental barriers that must be navigated in order to foster intergenerational cohesion. Finally, we discuss the findings from Generation to Generation, an intergenerational discussion course for older and younger adults, designed to promote productive intergenerational contact. The results provide evidence that intergenerational discussion may facilitate improved connections between generations.

UNPACKING "OK, BOOMER": USING LIFESPAN CONCEPTS TO EASE INTERGENERATIONAL CONFLICT
Allyson Graf, and Robin Bartlett, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky, United States With the "OK, Boomer" media exchange in late 2019, intergenerational conflict is touted as existing at an all-time high. Although the age diversity of today's workforce is unprecedented, spanning nearly five generations of workers, generational stereotyping and its influence on the identities and experiences of those individuals is not new. In this talk, we will advocate for the role that lifespan developmental psychology can play in preparing students to enter a sometimes contentious, misrepresented multigenerational workforce. We will demonstrate the value of helping students distinguish normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and non-normative influences to better understand individual similarities and differences in developmental experiences. We will discuss research on age identity and generational identity as distinct and self-enhancing life-span processes. Finally, we will highlight the developmental barriers that must be navigated in order to foster intergenerational cohesion. Age is a unique, often overlooked, aspect of identity, which is particularly problematic within the LGBT community. While sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity are central to the identities of LGBT people, they are verboten for older adults. Thus, older LGBT individuals' voices are inadvertently silenced. This talk will present data that demonstrates the reinforcing role that stereotypes play in maintaining the generational divide and address some of the unique intergenerational differences within the LGBT+ community that arise from differential experiences of cultural acceptance and historical events of LGBT youth coming of age across decades. For example, in the 1970's the DSM criteria would have classified LGBT people as mentally ill; stark contrast to the 2010's in which LGBT youth have grown up with legal protections against hate crimes, and marriage equality as a basic right. We will conclude with a discussion on cultivating community and productive conversations across generations. All generations must work together solving societal problems, yet age-related stereotypes are used to divide generations. Age derogation motivates younger people to vote by creating fear of an older White voting generation (Dear young people, don't vote; 2018), and to belittle older people ("Okay, Boomer…"). Demonizing older people creates prejudice within families asking that people target loved ones, for example, by pitting educational funding for young against health funding for older adults. Neither group wins when divisiveness occurs. Generation to Generation, an intergenerational course for older and younger adults, promotes intergenerational contact. Students discuss topical issues (e.g., racism) in multigenerational groups. Using pretest-posttest design, all students were invited to complete questionnaires at beginning and end of term. Younger adults reported significant increases in affection, comfort, kinship, engagement and enthusiasm for older adults, whereas older adults showed stability over time. Intergenerational discussion may facilitate improved connections between generations.

A GEROSCIENCE PERSPECTIVE ON COVID-19 -JOINT PROGRAM FROM THE AMERICAN AGING ASSOCIATION (AGE) AND THE GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA Chair: Rozalyn Anderson
Faculty will focus on the biology of aging as a contributor to the vulnerability in COVID-19. Faculty will present the latest concepts and insights that will advance our ability to confront this global outbreak. Our goal for this session is to connect with the concept of Geroscience and how ideas from aging biology research can be incorporated to improve outcomes and informed practice. Although the emphasis is on biology, the goal is to provide insight in a manner that is readily accessible to researchers across the aging spectrum that they might translate these ideas in the face of a very real-world challenge.

AGE-FRIENDLY ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR LONG-TERM SERVICES AND SUPPORTS STAFF TO IMPROVE CARE FOR OLDER ADULTS
Chair: Linda Edelman Co-Chair: Kara Dassel The purpose of our Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program is to provide geriatric and primary care education and training to long-term care (LTC) providers and staff, health professions students and community members. Our LTC partners and the communities we serve are often very rural and travel to urban areas for training can be difficult. Therefore, we have developed four online training that are offered free to our partners and rural communities statewide. These programs are designed to integrate the aims of the Age-Friendly 4M's model (i.e., What Matters, Mobility, Medication, Mentation). The LTC nurse residency program provides gerontological nursing and inter-professional leadership training (all 4M's), in a synchronous online environment. The asynchronous Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias training modules educate LTC staff and family caregivers about types, diagnosis and care of older adults with dementia (Mentation and Medication). The asynchronous Opioid Use in LTC modules were developed with partners to deliver live at LTC staff trainings about opioid stewardship (Medication). The LTC Learning Communities are monthly tele-health sessions for inter-professional LTC teams to discuss current issues and propose solutions (all 4M's). We have successfully leveraged different synchronous and asynchronous online modalities to increase educational opportunities for formal and informal caregivers, including those in rural areas whose educational opportunities are geographically limited. To date our programs have reached over 500 individuals across our state, increasing knowledge about geriatric concepts, communication and team leadership. Moving forward, we will continue to develop and refine educational programs that promote the Age-Friendly geriatric-focused health care.

DEVELOPMENT OF DEMENTIA BEST CARE PRACTICES IN LONG-TERM CARE SETTINGS ONLINE MODULES
Kara Dassel, 1 Larry Garrett, 2 Troy Andersen, 1 James Ballard, 1 Martin Freimer, 1 Jorie Butler, 1 and Linda Edelman, 1 1. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 2. University of Utah -College of Nursing, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States One arm of the Utah Geriatrics Education Consortium focuses on providing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) education to formal and informal caregivers. An