The Relationship between Intergenerational Community Activities of the Elderly and Social Capital

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between elderly participation in local intergenerational programs and the development of social capital (network, trust and normative). Questionnaires were administered to 130 older people (over 60years) from A City in Chiba prefecture. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test revealed that the elderly who participated in local intergenerational programs (School support volunteer, Aged care volunteer, Child care volunteer, Festival support, Tradition, Culture and Heritage Sharing activities) enjoyed more positive relationships in terms of networking, trust and normative scales. This result underlines the importance of establishing inter-generational programs for the elderly in order to generate social capital in local communities.