Peng Siyun, Roth Adam R, Perry Brea L
School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
Department of Sociology & Irsay Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Res Aging. 2025 Sep 5:1640275251377777. doi: 10.1177/01640275251377777.
Despite growing attention to the social isolation crisis in the U.S., it remains unclear whether Americans experience a decline in social connection with age. Given the complex nature of social connections, this study argues that we need to ask a different question - which domains of social connections decline with age. Using representative egocentric network data (Person-to-Person Health Interview; = 2,603) to measure core discussion networks and representative time-diary data (American Time Use Survey; = 35,900) to measure daily social interactions, we find diverging age differences across two dimensions of social connections. These results present a complex picture of social connections. Specifically, people maintain a consistent core discussion network of confidants across all ages. However, daily social interactions decline with age. Additionally, we find that social roles have a sizable impact on daily social interactions but little impact on core discussion networks across the life course.
尽管美国社会对社会隔离危机的关注日益增加，但美国人的社会联系是否会随着年龄增长而减少仍不明确。鉴于社会联系的复杂性，本研究认为我们需要提出一个不同的问题——社会联系的哪些领域会随着年龄增长而减少。利用具有代表性的以自我为中心的网络数据（个人对个人健康访谈；n = 2603）来衡量核心讨论网络，并利用具有代表性的时间日记数据（美国时间使用调查；n = 35900）来衡量日常社会互动，我们发现社会联系的两个维度存在不同的年龄差异。这些结果呈现出一幅复杂的社会联系图景。具体而言，各年龄段的人都维持着一个由知己组成的稳定核心讨论网络。然而，日常社会互动会随着年龄增长而减少。此外，我们发现社会角色对日常社会互动有相当大的影响，但在整个生命历程中对核心讨论网络的影响很小。
