“They Want Me to Play F*cking Bingo!”: The Social Lives of Young at Heart Seniors

Abstract

There are many sociological studies concerned with the social lives of senior citizens who fit the traditional aging norms of society. In comparison, the social experiences of “young at heart” seniors are relatively absent from this literature. The following research addresses this gap by exploring the social lives of seniors who feel their chronological age exceeds their biological, psychological, and social ages. More specifically, this research explores whether young at heart seniors experience social isolation as they deviate from the traditional aging norms of society. To answer this question, I conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with eight participants ages 65 and older, who describe themselves as young at heart, and reside in Atlantic Canada. After performing a thematic analysis of the data collected, my findings indicate that although traditional aging norms present obstacles in the social lives of young at heart seniors, they do not experience social isolation. Furthermore, the participants in this study describe living healthy social lives and do so through relationships with like-minded people who are often much younger than them.