Age-related patterns in social networks among European Americans and African Americans: Implications for socioemotional selectivity across the life span
Age-related patterns in social networks among European Americans and African Americans: Implications for socioemotional selectivity across the life span
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DOI：
10.2190/1abl-9be5-m0x2-lr9v
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发表时间：
2001-01-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Lang, FR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fung, HH;Carstensen, LL;Lang, FR
社会情感选择理论认为，随着人们越来越意识到未来时间的限制，他们在选择社会伴侣时越来越有动力，更倾向于情感上有意义的关系而不是外围关系。该理论假设，由于年龄与生命剩余时间呈负相关，老年人的社交网络包含的外围社交伙伴比年轻人少。本研究在非裔美国人和欧洲裔美国人这两个社会结构资源不同的族裔群体中检验了这一假设。调查结果证实了这一假设。在广泛的年龄范围（18至94岁）和两个族裔群体中，老年人报告说，与年轻人相比，他们的社交网络中情感亲密的社交伙伴一样多，但外围社交伙伴较少。此外，在社交网络中，非常亲密的社交伙伴所占的比例越高，年轻人的幸福感就越低，而在老年人中则不然。研究结果对整个生命周期的适应性社会功能的影响进行了讨论。
Socioemotional selectivity theory contends that as people become increasingly aware of limitations on future time, they are increasingly motivated to be more selective in their choice of social partners, favoring emotionally meaningful relationships over peripheral ones. The theory hypothesizes that because age is negatively associated with time left in life, the social networks of older people contain fewer peripheral social partners than those of their younger counterparts. This study tested the hypothesis among African Americans and European Americans, two ethnic groups whose social structural resources differ. Findings confirm the hypothesis. Across a wide age range (18 to 94 years old) and among both ethnic groups, older people report as many emotionally close social partners but fewer peripheral social partners in their networks as compared to their younger counterparts. Moreover, a greater percentage of very close social partners in social networks is related to lower levels of happiness among the young age group, but not among the older age groups. implications of findings for adaptive social functioning across the life span are discussed.