{"title":"Establishing and Maintaining Social Relationships During Significant Life Events: The Role of Age.","authors":"Sonja Radjenovic, Fiona S Rupprecht, Jana Nikitin","doi":"10.1093/geronb/gbae144","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We investigate how adults of different ages experience changes in their social relationships during significant life events. Based on different goal priorities, younger adults may benefit more from establishing new social contacts during a significant life event, whereas older adults may benefit more from maintaining existing relationships.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>To test these hypotheses, we conducted multilevel modelling with a sample of N = 6,688 participants aged 18 to 90 years who reported at least one significant life event in the past two years.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Both establishing new social relationships and maintaining existing relationships during significant life events were associated with higher levels of well-being. As predicted, these associations were moderated by age. Establishing new social relationships was more strongly associated with mental health and life satisfaction in younger adults, whereas maintaining existing relationships was more strongly associated with subjective well-being, physical health, and loneliness in older adults.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>These findings provide valuable insights into the role of age in the change and stability of social relationships during significant life events.</p>","PeriodicalId":56111,"journal":{"name":"Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11475625/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae144","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: We investigate how adults of different ages experience changes in their social relationships during significant life events. Based on different goal priorities, younger adults may benefit more from establishing new social contacts during a significant life event, whereas older adults may benefit more from maintaining existing relationships.
Methods: To test these hypotheses, we conducted multilevel modelling with a sample of N = 6,688 participants aged 18 to 90 years who reported at least one significant life event in the past two years.
Results: Both establishing new social relationships and maintaining existing relationships during significant life events were associated with higher levels of well-being. As predicted, these associations were moderated by age. Establishing new social relationships was more strongly associated with mental health and life satisfaction in younger adults, whereas maintaining existing relationships was more strongly associated with subjective well-being, physical health, and loneliness in older adults.
Discussion: These findings provide valuable insights into the role of age in the change and stability of social relationships during significant life events.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences publishes articles on development in adulthood and old age that advance the psychological science of aging processes and outcomes. Articles have clear implications for theoretical or methodological innovation in the psychology of aging or contribute significantly to the empirical understanding of psychological processes and aging. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, attitudes, clinical applications, cognition, education, emotion, health, human factors, interpersonal relations, neuropsychology, perception, personality, physiological psychology, social psychology, and sensation.