Do age differences in close and problematic family ties reflect the pool of available relatives?
Do age differences in close and problematic family ties reflect the pool of available relatives?
复制标题
亲密和有问题的家庭关系中的年龄差异是否反映了可用亲属的数量？
DOI：
10.1093/geronb/58.2.p80
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发表时间：
2003
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Birditt,KiraS
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Fingerman,KarenL;Birditt,KiraS
与年轻人相比，老年人的亲密关系和有问题的社会关系一直较少。然而，先前的研究并没有明确地考察在晚年生活中是否有在世亲属与家庭关系的性质之间的联系。164个年龄在13到99岁之间的人描述了他们的亲密和有问题的社会关系网络。然后，他们提供了具体的在世亲属的信息（例如，配偶、母亲、父亲、儿子、女儿、兄弟姐妹、祖父母和孙子女）。与青少年或年轻人相比，老年人报告的在世亲戚更多。尽管所有年龄段的人都倾向于把大多数活着的亲戚称为亲密的社会接触者，但大多数成年人并没有把所有可用的亲戚都称为亲密接触者。在指认亲属为有问题的社会关系方面，出现了年龄差异。老年人不太可能指出他们的亲戚引起了问题。研究结果是根据投资理论的延伸，即可用性假设进行讨论的，该假设表明，很少有亲属的个人可能会将更多的亲属视为亲密关系，而将更少的亲属视为有问题的亲属。
Older adults consistently report having fewer close and fewer problematic social ties than do younger adults. Yet, prior studies have not explicitly examined associations between the availability of living relatives and the nature of family ties in later life. One hundred sixty-four individuals ages 13 to 99 described their networks of close and problematic social ties. Then they provided information about specific living relatives (e.g., spouse, mother, father, sons, daughters, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren). Older individuals reported more living relatives than did adolescents or young adults. Although individuals of all ages tended to name the majority of living relatives as close social contacts, most adults did not name all available relatives as close contacts. Age differences emerged with regard to naming relatives as problematic social ties. Older adults were less likely to indicate that their relatives caused problems. Findings are discussed in terms of an extension of investment theory, the availability hypothesis, which suggests that individuals with few living relatives are likely to view more of these relatives as close ties and fewer of these relatives as problematic.