This is a “reaction paper” to the seminal paper by Hagestad and Uhlenberg on the impact of age segregation on ageism. Drawing primarily on research in the United States and the Netherlands, they highlighted institutional, spatial, and cultural dimensions of age segregation throughout the individual’s life span. My “reaction paper” identifies how the three major founders of humanistic psychology—Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Rollo May—presciently addressed this topic from the life-affirming perspective of what I prefer to call intergenerational solidarity. Drawing on personal and clinical experience, each felt it essential that age segregation be decisively reversed in American society.
BrauerK.StumpfH. S. C.ProyerR. T. (2024). Playfulness in middle-and older age: Testing associations with life satisfaction, character strengths, and flourishing. Aging & Mental Health, 28(11), 1540–1549.
2.
CavéJ.KatjeneM.RoosV. (2024). A scoping review of Rogers’ person-centred approach to identify constructs relevant to optimal intergenerational relationships. South African Journal of Psychology, 54(3), 402–414.
3.
DanneferD.FeldmanK. (2017). Age integration, age segregation, and generation X: Life-course perspectives. Generations, 41(3), 20–26.
4.
HagestadG. O.UhlenbergP. (2005). The social separation of old and young: A root of ageism. Journal of Social Issues, 61(2), 343–360.
5.
HoffmanE. (1999). The right to be human: A biography of Abraham Maslow (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
6.
MaslowA. H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York, NY: Viking.
7.
MaslowA. H. (1979). The journals of Abraham Maslow. Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole.
8.
MayR. (1991). The cry for myth. New York, NY: Norton.
9.
RogersC. R. (1974). In retrospect: Forty-six years. American Psychologist, 29(1), 115–123.
10.
RogersC. R. (1980). Growing old—Or older and growing. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 20(4), 5–16.
11.
SalibaY. C.BardenS. M. (2021). Playfulness and older adults: Implications for quality of life. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 43(2), 157–171.
12.
ShenX.MasekL. (2024). The playful mediator, moderator, or outcome? An integrative review of the roles of play and playfulness in adult-centered psychological interventions for mental health. Journal of Positive Psychology, 19(6), 1037–1050.
13.
TuberS. (2024). Child’s play, adult playfulness and aging: Becoming a grandpa (baba). Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 23(3), 236–245.
