Matt G E, Dean A
Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, CA 92182-0350.
J Health Soc Behav. 1993 Sep;34(3):187-200.
In this study, the relationships among age, sex, friend support, and psychological distress are examined among elderly persons. Structural equation modeling and a longitudinal design are used to examine direct, indirect, and moderator (interaction) effects over a 22-month interval. Findings suggest that different causal processes operate among persons over the age of 70 (old-old) and those 50 to 70 years (young-old); the cross-lagged effects of friend support on distress and of distress on friend support are only observed in the older group. Compared to the young-old, the old-old receive less friend support at time 2 (T2) if they experienced psychological distress at time 1 (T1), and the old-old are more distressed at T2 if they received low levels of support at T1. As a result of this age interaction, the total effects of sex on distress and support at T2 are twice as large in the sample of old-old persons as in the sample of young-old persons. Such findings suggest that the old-old in general and old-old men in particular are especially vulnerable to psychological distress when losing friend support, and to lose friend support when experiencing psychological distress. Implications of these and other findings are discussed.
在本研究中，对老年人的年龄、性别、朋友支持与心理困扰之间的关系进行了考察。采用结构方程模型和纵向设计，以检验在22个月的时间间隔内的直接、间接和调节（交互）效应。研究结果表明，70岁以上（高龄老人）和50至70岁（低龄老人）人群中存在不同的因果过程；朋友支持对困扰以及困扰对朋友支持的交叉滞后效应仅在高龄老人组中观察到。与低龄老人相比，高龄老人如果在时间1（T1）经历了心理困扰，那么在时间2（T2）获得的朋友支持会更少；而如果在T1获得的支持水平较低，高龄老人在T2时会更加困扰。由于这种年龄交互作用，在高龄老人样本中，性别对T2时困扰和支持的总体效应是低龄老人样本中的两倍。这些发现表明，总体而言高龄老人，尤其是高龄男性，在失去朋友支持时特别容易受到心理困扰，而在经历心理困扰时则容易失去朋友支持。本文讨论了这些发现及其他研究结果的意义。
