Social Control and Well-Being Among Older Adults

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DESCRIPTION (investigator's abstract): Individuals who are socially integrated have lower morbidity and mortality risks compared to those who are more socially isolated. This association between social relationships and health can be particularly strong among older adults, suggesting that the utilization of social relationships may be an effective way to prompt the development and maintenance of health behaviors in this age group. Although previous research has often found weak or inconsistent associations between social support and health behaviors, the regulatory function of social relationships (known as social control) provides a promising alternative framework for understanding social influences on health behavior and health status. The purpose of this project is to obtain a better understanding of the nature, function, and consequences of social control among older adults, as well as how social control processes vary across stages of adulthood. Telephone interviews will be conducted with young, middle-aged, and older adults living in Los Angeles County to address the following research aims: a) investigating age-related differences in the experience of social control by comparing these age groups on social control network size and composition, as well as the extent of experiencing different types of social control; b) testing a theoretical model of the affective, behavioral, and health consequences of direct social control, including the examination of age-related differences in these associations; c) testing the moderating influence of social control frequency, social control type (affective tone), the target's motivation to engage in healthy behavior, perceptions of mastery over one's life, and current health status on the associations between experiencing social control and affective responses to social control; d) identifying personality characteristics that are associated with the experience of social control and testing the moderating influence of personality on associations between social control, affect, health behavior, and health status. The ultimate goal of this line of research is to design effective and age-appropriate interventions that utilize social networks to encourage engagement in healthy behavior.