Age-related patterns in social networks among European Americans and African Americans: Implications for socioemotional selectivity across the life span

Socioemotional selectivity theory contends that as people become increasing ly aware of limitations on future time, they are increasingly motivated to be more selective in their choice of social partners, favoring emotionally meaningful relationships over peripheral ones. The theory hypothesizes that because age is negatively associated with time left in life, the social ne tworks of older people contain fewer peripheral social partners than those of their younger counterparts. This study tested the hypothesis among Afric an Americans and European Americans, two ethnic groups whose social structu ral resources differ. Findings confirm the hypothesis. Across a wide age ra nge (18 to 94 years old) and among both ethnic groups, older people report as many emotionally close social partners but fewer peripheral social partn ers in their networks as compared to their younger counterparts. Moreover, a greater percentage of very close social partners in social networks is re lated to lower levels of happiness among the young age group, but not among the older age groups. implications of findings for adaptive social functio ning across the life span are discussed.