Satisfaction with social support in older adulthood: The influence of social support changes and goal adjustment capacities.

Abstract

A 6-year longitudinal study of 180 older adults (M age at baseline = 72.12 years) examined whether goal adjustment capacities (i.e., goal disengagement and goal reengagement) moderate the associations between transient and long-term longitudinal changes in social support partners with social support satisfaction. Results from hierarchical linear models show that high levels of, and increases in, goal disengagement capacities buffered the adverse effect of transient declines in perceptions of social support partners on satisfaction with social support. Moreover, increases in goal disengagement buffered the effect of long-term longitudinal declines in perceived social support on reduced levels of social support satisfaction. However, when participants perceived longitudinal increases in the number of social support partners, low levels of, and declines in, goal reengagement capacities were associated with high levels or increases in social support satisfaction. This pattern of findings suggests that goal disengagement can ameliorate social support satisfaction if older adults perceive a reduction in their social support network. Withdrawing from engagement in new goals, by contrast, may contribute to social support satisfaction if older adults perceive an increase in the number of social support partners.