Personal intent and discourse considerations play an important role in understanding the nature of a conversation between a youth and an elderly person. Each participant makes assumptions about the listener's knowledge and ability to communicate effectively. The way a speaker reacts to the other participant depends upon the speaker's own assumptions and perceptions about the other, the other participant's role, and what each believes to be the real topic of discussion. For effective communication to occur between a youth and an elderly person, four criteria must be fulfilled: (1) the participants must be viewed as unique or worthy of the exchange, (2) they must experience the expected balance of inclusion and affection, (3) they must engage in a fluctuating balance of "investment stake" during the conversation, and (4) they must adhere to certain conversational rules such as turn-taking, sticking to a topic, returning with a "new" component for the message, and answering in an appropriate manner. Interference or misinterpretation occurs when participants have false assumptions or fail to meet the expected exchange of messages due to sensory, physical, or cognitive differences. The result is information distortion, message failure, and social discomfort. A poorly defined relationship, often found with elderly people, results in distortion of the meaning in shared utterances. (RL)