THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL VERSUS TEMPORAL COMPARISON APPRAISALS AMONG OLDER ADULTS

It has been suggested that social comparisons become less frequent and less important to one's self-evaluation, and temporal comparisons bec ome more frequent and more important to self-evaluation in later life. In this study, the influence of social and temporal comparison apprai sals on global self-ratings in 3 domains (health, income, and memory) was assessed among individuals ranging in age from 53 to 90 years. Alt hough social comparison appraisals were significantly related to self- ratings in all 3 domains, temporal comparison appraisals were only rel ated to self-rated memory. There was also no evidence that the effect of social or temporal comparison appraisals on self-evaluations differ ed with age among our sample of middle-aged and older adults. Social c omparison appraisal appears to be a viable mechanism by which esteem c an be preserved in old age, despite increasing loss and impairment.