SOCIAL SELF-EFFICACY AND SHORT-TERM VARIABILITY IN SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS - THE MACARTHUR SUCCESSFUL AGING STUDIES

Dealing with others entails both stability and short-term variability of the functions and outcomes of social relationships. The authors arg ue that patterns of short-term intraindividual variability in social r elationships and self-efficacy beliefs contribute interpretable inform ation about social adaptation. On the basis of 23 repeated weekly meas urements of a sample of 32 participants ages 56 to 88 years, the autho rs examined the extent to which fluctuations in perceived relational o utcomes are related to fluctuations of social self-efficacy. Results s howed that individuals differ systematically in respect to the extent to which they experience and display fluctuations in self-efficacy and availability of social relationships. Moreover, when individuals perc eive others to be available across time, social self-efficacy beliefs are stronger and fluctuate less across time.