The aging of the workforce creates opportunities for experienced employees to share expertise with newer employees, via mentoring relationships. Age-dissimilar interactions, however, like those between mentor and protégé, can engender challenging interpersonal dynamics such as concern about how others view and respond to them. The current study examines the unique challenges and opportunities of age-dissimilar mentoring relationships, using a sample of doctor and lawyer protégés. Findings suggest that age dissimilarity does not play as large of a role in mentoring relationship outcomes as age-related behaviors. How one manages their age seems to be more important, such that managing one's age in a positive way by redefining age-related stereotypes rather than switching attention away from stereotypes is better for mentoring relationship outcomes no matter the age difference between mentor and protégé. Implications, inferences, and limitations are discussed.

劳动力的老龄化为经验丰富的员工创造了机会，通过指导关系与新员工分享专业知识。然而，年龄不同的互动，例如导师和门徒之间的互动，可能会产生具有挑战性的人际动态，例如担心他人如何看待和回应他们。目前的研究使用医生和律师的门徒样本，研究了年龄不同的指导关系所面临的独特挑战和机遇。研究结果表明，年龄差异在指导关系结果方面的作用不如与年龄相关的行为那么大。一个人如何管理自己的年龄似乎更重要，例如管理一个人 无论导师和门徒之间的年龄差异如何，通过重新定义与年龄相关的刻板印象而不是将注意力从刻板印象转移到积极的年龄，这对于指导关系结果更好。讨论了含义、推论和限制。