TY - JOUR
AB - E. Lee, T.M. Hess, NC State University, Raleigh, North Carolina Background. Normative changes in affective goals have been used to explain age-related differences in social selection processes. An alternative perspective suggests that age differences in social selection may reflect benefit-cost ratios. As interaction-related costs (e.g., time/effort) increase, relational benefits and importance associated with specific relationships may become more salient with age. We specifically hypothesized that increases in the cost associated with specific interactions would disproportionately decrease older adults’ willingness to engage, but that willingness would be moderated by the importance assigned to maintaining relations with specific partners. Methods. Younger (N= 20; 20 – 40 years) and older (N=20; 65 – 83 years) adults viewed 16 descriptions of potential social interaction partners that varied by relationship type, emotional closeness, shared interests, and affective nature of interaction. Participants provided ratings of willingness to expend time/effort to interact with the partner, actual effort expenditure expected (cost), anticipated enjoyment/satisfaction (benefit), and relationship importance. Results. GLM-based analyses revealed effects in the expected directions. Importance significantly moderated the effect of age on willingness across differentrelationships (ps< .05). In cases where cost had a significant effect (ps< .05), it also interacted with importance. Notably, the moderating effects of importance and effort were strongest in situations where the affective nature of interaction was depicted more negatively. Conclusions. Consistent with the selective engagement framework (2014), these results suggest that the costs of specific social interactions (e.g., effort involved, affective nature of relationships) are important determinants of older adults’ willingness to engage, but that importance attached to the relationship moderates these effects. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
TI - AGE–RELATED EFFECTS OF PARTNER CHARACTERISTICS, IMPORTANCE, AND EFFORT ON WILLINGNESS TO ENGAGE
JF - The Gerontologist
DO - 10.1093/geront/gnv184.05
DA - 2015-11-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/age-related-effects-of-partner-characteristics-importance-and-effort-aTDk4xmzKH
SP - 414
EP - 414
VL - 55
IS - Suppl_2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -