SOCIAL SKILLS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL PROBLEMS AMONG THE ELDERLY

The disruption of communication behaviors as a result of aging led to the hypothesis that elderly subjects would exhibit more problematic so cial skills than younger subjects. These social skills deficits were f urther hypothesized to be associated with rejection from others and a number of psychosocial problems. Elderly and young subjects engaged in two different interactions, with an age-matched partner, and an age-u nmatched partner, from which social skills and interpersonal rejection were assessed. Subjects also completed self-report measures of social skills and psychosocial problems. Elderly subjects did not differ fro m young subjects on most measures of social skill, nor on the measure of interpersonal rejection. However, the elderly reported more symptom s of dysphoria and lower self-esteem than did young subjects. The lack of young-elderly differences in social skills may be due to the high level of functioning evident in the elderly sample.