ADULTS REASONING ABOUT PROBLEMS IN SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

消极的社会交往对 心理健康已经明确。老年人 在他们的亲密社交活动中， 比年轻的成年人。人际交往减少 紧张局势似乎并不反映困难的 关系。相反，老年人似乎会思考和管理 与年轻人不同的人际关系问题。的 拟议的研究涉及社会认知过程的基础 在整个成年期的社会关系问题的管理。 20名受过良好教育的健康男女分别在4个不同的 年龄组：20-29岁，40-49岁，60-69岁和80岁以上将参加。到目前为止， 很少有社会认知研究将老年人与 老的参与者。对人际关系问题的推理将 通过询问参与者他们如何管理与 他们在最亲密的社交网络中命名的人 与他们在一个网络中命名的人建立联系， 令人苦恼的社会关系开放式答复将被编码为 以前的研究。老年人预计将使用更多 管理关系问题的综合方法， 对方的弱点。年轻的成年人应该参与 更积极地努力沟通和改变对方， 人.拟议的研究对以下干预措施具有影响： 遇到人际关系问题的老年人。电流 心理实践强调直接沟通，以解决 关系困难，但不同的方法可能会更多 适合老年人。

The deleterious effects of negative social interactions for psychological well-being have been clearly established. Older adults consistently report fewer problems in their close social relationships than do younger adults. Decreased interpersonal tensions do not appear to reflect dissolution of difficult relationships. Rather, older adults appear to think about and manage interpersonal problems differently than do younger adults. The proposed study addresses social cognitive processes underlying management of problems in social relationships across adulthood. Twenty well-educated, healthy men and women in each of 4 different age groups: 20-29, 40-49, 60-69, and 80+ will participate. To date, few studies of social cognition have differentiated young-old from old-old participants. Reasoning about interpersonal problems will be assessed by asking participants how they manage tensions with people whom they have named in a network of their closest social ties and with people whom they have named in a network of their most distressful social ties. Open-ended responses will be coded building on previous research. Older adults are expected to use more integrated approaches to manage relationship problems and to accept the other person's weakness. Younger adults are expected to engage in more active efforts to communicate and to change the other person. The proposed study has implications for interventions with older adults who are experiencing interpersonal problems. Current psychological practice emphasizes direct communication to resolve relationship difficulties, but different approaches may be more appropriate for older populations.