The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: Support for socioemotional selectivity theory
Abstract
This investigation explored 2 hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory: (a) Selective reductions in social interaction begin in early adulthood and (b) emotional closeness to significant others increases rather than decreases in adulthood even when rate reductions occur. Transcribed interviews with 28 women and 22 men from the Child Guidance Study, conducted over 34 years, were reviewed and rated for frequency of interaction, satisfaction with the relationship, and degree of emotional closeness in 6 types of relationships. Interaction frequency with acquaintances and close friends declined from early adulthood on. Interaction frequency with spouses and siblings increased across the same time period and emotional closeness increased throughout adulthood in relationships with relatives and close friends. Findings suggest that individuals begin narrowing their range of social partners long before old age.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1991(Carstensen, , 1992) ) suggests that aging goes along with shifts in individuals' motives and goals.”
From What satisfies younger versus older employees, and why? An aging perspective on equity theory to explain interactive effects of employee age, monetary rewards, and task contributions on job satisfaction (2020) · cites this paper as Carstensen, 1992
In the citing paper
“Newer activity-related theories such as socio-emotional selectivity (SES ; Carstensen 1992;Frederickson and Carstensen 1990), and Selection, Optimization and Compensation (SOC ; Baltes and Baltes 1990;Freund and Baltes 1998) espouse successful ageing through adaptation, focusing particularly on selection of appropriate social and leisure activities (Adams 2004).”
From A critical review of the literature on social and leisure activity and wellbeing in later life (2011) · cites this paper as Carstensen 1992
In the citing paper
“In later life, social networks are likely to reduce in size due to the increasing independence of adult children, the death of close social contacts, and the increased selectivity of social interactions with age (Baltes & Baltes, 1990;Bordone & Weber, 2012;Carstensen, 1992;de Jong Gierveld & Havens, 2004;Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990;Freund & Baltes, 1998;Victor et al., 2000).”
From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Carstensen, 1992
In the citing paper
“Individuals who live alone may have less frequent opportunity for social contact, may be more isolated (Carstensen, 1992;de Jong Gierveld & Havens, 2004;de Jong Gierveld, 2003;Kobayashi et al., 2009), and may feel more lonely (Newall et al., 2014;Victor et al., 2005) than those who live with others, which may result in reduced cognitive stimulation and lower cognitive reserve (Gow et al., 2007).”
From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Carstensen, 1992
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 1,001–1,016 of 1,016
Eakman, A. M., Carlson, M. E., & Clark, F. A. (2009) · OTJR Occupational Therapy Journal of Research · doi:10.3928/15394492-20090501-02 · Cited by 9
Social Relationships in Adulthood and Old Age
Pruchno, R. A., & Rosenbaum, J. (2003) · Handbook of Psychology · doi:10.1002/0471264385.wei0620 · Cited by 8
Social Isolation among Older People
Wethington, E., & Pillemer, K. A. (2013) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118427378.ch14 · Cited by 10
The shifting architecture of cognition and brain function in older adulthoodPreprint
Spreng, R. N., & Turner, G. R. (2019) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/8s93y · Cited by 8
Sullivan, K. E. (2000) · doi:10.15760/etd.146 · Cited by 8
Enhanced Mood After a Getting-Acquainted Interaction with a Stranger: Do Shy People Benefit Too?
Sprecher, S., Miller, R. S., Fehr, B., Kanter, J. B., Perlman, D., & Felmlee, D. (2022) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/02654075221141433 · Cited by 7
“I can't wait to play with you again!”: Intergenerational board games within families
Cès, P., Duflos, M., & Giraudeau, C. (2024) · Family Relations · doi:10.1111/fare.13117 · Cited by 8
Zhang, D., Shi, J., & Feng, Z. (2025) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-024-05606-w · Cited by 7
The relationships between social internet use, social contact, and loneliness in older adults
Janssen, J. H. M., van Tilburg, T. G., van Ingen, E. J., Corten, R., Peeters, G. M. E. E., & Rikkert, M. G. M. O. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-09861-8 · Cited by 15
Wilkinson, R., Nakamura, J. S., Kim, E. S., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2023) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/02654075231164900 · Cited by 7
Psychology and Aging: The first 20 years.
Zacks, R. T., Blanchard–Fields, F., & Haley, W. E. (2006) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.21.1.1 · Cited by 7
Munyon, T. P., Madden, L. T., Madden, T. M., & Vigoda‐Gadot, E. (2019) · Journal of Vocational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2019.01.005 · Cited by 7
Anderson, D. P., Shimizu, H., Liu, Y., & Grover, R. (2019) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-019-00299-6 · Cited by 7
Schade, H. M., Drewelies, J., Hülür, G., Hoppmann, C. A., Ram, N., & Gerstorf, D. (2020) · GeroPsych · doi:10.1024/1662-9647/a000228 · Cited by 8
Imtiaz, F., & Ji, L. (2020) · Experimental Aging Research · doi:10.1080/0361073x.2020.1839309 · Cited by 7
Imtiaz, F., Ji, L., & Vaughan‐Johnston, T. I. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01365-8 · Cited by 7
Metadata
- Authors
- Carstensen, L. L.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Carstensen, Laura L.
- ORCID
- Carstensen, Laura L.
- Venue
- Psychology and Aging
- Published
- 1992
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 331-338
- ISSN
- 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1498
- OpenAlex
- W4229619231
- Cited by
- 2,174
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 148 · 2025: 152 · 2024: 107 · 2023: 91 · 2022: 135 · 2021: 177 · 2020: 100 · 2019: 111 · 2018: 91 · 2017: 88 · 2016: 95 · 2015: 110 · 2014: 80 · 2013: 75 · 2012: 82
- FWCI
- 6.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG007476, R01AGO7476, R01AG008816, R01AGO8816)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Demography › Retirement, Disability, and Employment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Keywords
- socioemotional selectivity theory, social patterns, emotional patterns, adulthood, aging, life transitions
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aging, Child, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Parent-Child Relations, Personal Satisfaction, Personality Development, Sibling Relations, Social Environment, Social Support
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
