“I Will Cherish This Experience for a Lifetime:” A Qualitative Exploration of the Benefits of Intergenerational Dialogue in College Students

The current study focuses on the potential benefits of intergenerational dialogue, which broadly refers to the sharing of experience, values, and knowledge between members of different generations through conversation. To investigate the benefits of intergenerational dialogue for young adults, college students partnered with older adults to engage in two semi-structured conversations. Students completed three reflections along with the dialogue sessions. After conducting a thematic analysis of student reflections, we found they reported themes of relationship building, character building, hearing older adults' stories, enjoyable experience, and perceived intergenerativity. Results from this study highlight some of the immediate and integrative benefits of intergenerational dialogue.