Wild Tess, Löckenhoff Corinna E
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2024 Dec 1;79(12). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae165.
Many choices are made in the context of one's social network, but age differences in consulting others during decision making remain underexplored. This preregistered study examined age differences in the composition of decision-related social networks and associated social preferences and motivations. Based on prior findings regarding age differences in information-seeking and socioemotional preferences, we predicted that with advanced age people would consult fewer and more emotionally close social partners, consult them less frequently, rate consultations as more helpful, and prioritize social goals during decision making.
An adult lifespan sample (N = 485; Mage = 51.08; SDage = 19.63, rangeage = 18-96 years) considered hypothetical choices and reported how many and what types of people they would consult and how often they would consult them. They also identified their most important decision consultants and evaluated interactions with those individuals.
As predicted, age was associated with consulting fewer people less frequently and this was not explained by having a smaller range of potential consultants in one's network. Contrary to predictions, the proportion of close social partners in decision networks and the perceived helpfulness of consultants did not vary significantly by age. Moreover, older adults were less likely than younger adults to prioritize relationship quality over decision quality. Controlling for potential covariates did not diminish the observed age effects.
These findings align with the prior literature on age-related decrements in pre-decisional information seeking but suggest that age-related preferences for close social partners and socioemotional goals do not extend to decision-related consultations.
许多选择是在个人社交网络的背景下做出的，但决策过程中向他人咨询的年龄差异仍未得到充分研究。这项预先注册的研究考察了决策相关社交网络构成中的年龄差异以及相关的社会偏好和动机。基于先前关于信息寻求和社会情感偏好的年龄差异的研究结果，我们预测，随着年龄的增长，人们会向更少且情感上更亲密的社交伙伴咨询，咨询频率更低，认为咨询更有帮助，并在决策过程中优先考虑社会目标。
一个涵盖成年人整个生命周期的样本（N = 485；年龄中位数 = 51.08；年龄标准差 = 19.63，年龄范围 = 18 - 96岁）考虑了假设性选择，并报告了他们会向多少人、何种类型的人咨询以及咨询的频率。他们还确定了最重要的决策咨询人，并评估了与这些人的互动。
正如预测的那样，年龄与咨询人数减少和频率降低相关，且这并非由社交网络中潜在咨询人的范围较小所解释。与预测相反，决策网络中亲密社交伙伴的比例以及对咨询人的感知帮助程度在年龄上没有显著差异。此外，与年轻人相比，老年人在决策质量和关系质量之间更不可能优先考虑关系质量。控制潜在协变量并没有削弱观察到的年龄效应。
这些发现与先前关于决策前信息寻求中与年龄相关的减少的文献一致，但表明与年龄相关的对亲密社交伙伴和社会情感目标的偏好并不延伸到决策相关的咨询中。
