Predicting Changes in Older Adults' Interpersonal Control Strivings

Abstract

People vary in the importance they ascribe to, and efforts they invest in, maintaining positive relationships with others. Research has linked such variation in interpersonal control strivings to the quality of social exchanges experienced, but little work has examined the predictors of interpersonal control strivings. Given the importance of close relationships in later life, this study examined conditions that might precipitate increases or declines in interpersonal control strivings over a 2-year period. Specifically, change in interpersonal control strivings was hypothesized to be particularly influenced by the interplay of two co-occurring conditions: (1) experiences in the social environment that bolster or undermine older adults' motivation to foster satisfying social ties and (2) the availability of personal resources to respond to these experiences. The findings suggest that a change in older adults' interpersonal control strivings over a 2-year period was affected jointly by the frequency with which they experienced positive social exchanges and their health status. Features of the social environment, therefore, may interact with personal resources to influence interpersonal control strivings in later life.