Constructions of loneliness in older people in the New Zealand news and current affairs media : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology with endorsement in Health Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2017
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
Loneliness is a subjective, painful, personal experience and it has negative effects on
physical and mental health. The way that loneliness in older people is constructed in the
mass media can reflect or influence public perceptions regarding that issue. Analysis of
media reports can contribute to understanding how loneliness in older people is
understood. This study is based in a social constructionist understanding and investigates
the way that loneliness in older people is constructed in the New Zealand news and current
affairs media. A discourse analysis was undertaken of articles regarding loneliness in
older people, published in New Zealand in 2016 from selected newspapers, magazines,
and a news website. Five discourses are described which are utilised in those news and
current affairs articles regarding loneliness in older people. They are named the morality,
economic, medical, dependence, and relational discourses. Each of these discourses has
been identified in previous research. In the first four of these discourses, older people
who experience loneliness are commonly offered passive subject positions of reduced
power and agency, and loneliness in older people is problematised. Older people quoted
in the news and current affairs articles drew on a relational discourse which, in contrast,
positioned older people, including those who experienced loneliness, in interdependent
relationships. A focus on the voice of older people highlights that they draw on a different
discourse from others, and it is a discourse which enables more powerful and agentive
subject positions for older people, especially those who experience loneliness.
Description
Keywords
Older people in mass media, Loneliness in old age, Press coverage, New Zealand, Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Psychology