Complete Test Bank Social Interaction and Social Ties Ch9

CHAPTER 9

SOCIAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL TIES

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Chapter 9 is divided into main three sections, all related to social relationships in older adulthood. The first section traces how theories on social interaction in older adulthood evolved, starting with the early activity and disengagement theories. These theories were not explicit about the nature of social interactions, but activity theory in particular focused on the positive aspects. Disengagement theory, proposed on the basis of research findings, contended that in older adulthood, individuals tend to become more reflective and to engage in fewer social interactions. This theory was controversial because it postulated mutual withdrawal of older adults and society from one another and it proposed that such withdrawal satisfied the wants and needs of both older adults and society at large.

The more recent socioemotional selectivity (SST) theory acknowledges that the quantity of social interactions declines from young to older adulthood. However, this theory interprets the decline in terms of age-related changes in motives people have for engaging in interactions, which influence the types of interactions they favor. In early adulthood, the motive is information seeking, whereas later in life the motive is emotional regulation. The favored motivation for engaging in social interactions is associated not just with age, but also with time. If time stretches into the future, people favor novel interactions, which will fulfill the need for acquiring information. Alternatively, when time is limited, people favor interactions with familiar others, who are likely to fulfill their need for emotional regulation.

Social exchange theory postulates that the most comfortable social interactions are balanced. An interaction between a dyad (that is, two different individuals or even an individual and an institutional administrator), will be most beneficial if both partners have an equal need and desire for interacting with each other. If an interaction is unbalanced, the partner with the greater need, desire, or necessity to interact will be forced to make more concessions to the partner with less need or desire, who will therefore have more power. Eventually, greater costs to the needier partner will outweigh the benefits of participation in the interaction. Ombudsman programs have been put in place for older adults who live in institutional settings, partly for the purpose of giving them greater power in getting their needs met.

Recent research has focused on the complexity of social relationships. Greater attention is being given not only to the beneficial aspects of positive social exchanges, but also to the problematic aspects of negative social exchanges.

The second section of the chapter focuses on social ties, beginning with a description of the convoy model and the significance of social networks in people’s lives. These networks have many of the same characteristics across various ethnic groups in the United States, but there are differences as well. Family members make up a large proportion of people’s social networks (perhaps more so in older adulthood). There is a discussion of the nuclear family, the family of procreation, the family of origin, the extended family, and the modified extended family, the beanpole family structure, and the blended family.

With regard to family, there is a discussion of patterns of marital interactions and satisfaction across the adult life span. Even in marriages that are not ideal, older couples show less intense negative affect when interacting compared to middle-aged couples. With regard to intergenerational relationships, ties between older adults and their adult children play an important role in the family network, although there can be intergenerational ambivalence, with both positive and negative feelings between the older parent generation and their adult children. The roles of grandparenthood and sibling relationships are also important. Sibling relationships often become closer in the late middle and older adult years than they were in the young adult years. Even though family comprises an important part of the social network for many older adults, not all close ties are with family members. Good friends are important, especially when friendships are based on deep, long-term emotional bonds. In addition, peripheral social relationships that may not be deep can still have meaning with regard to everyday familiarity and sometimes they serve as a link to an older adult’s personal past.

The third section of the chapter covers the darker side of social interactions – elder abuse and neglect. Elder abuse can be physical, psychological, or material. Documented instances of elder abuse have increased over the past several decades, but this may be partly due to stricter rules about reporting suspected abuse. Abuse in domestic settings is difficult to study, but abusers are most often family members, most commonly a spouse. However, abusers may also be adult children who are mentally unstable or have problems with substance abuse. The typical victim of elder abuse is a woman age 75 or older who is suffering from dementia and lives with and is completely dependent upon the abuser for care. The situational model interprets elder abuse as caregivers’ response to situations that offer no relief from stress and are socially isolating. Abuse may also occur in institutional settings where staff members are overburdened, underpaid, and uneducated about what to expect in caring for the residents. Suggestions are made about approaches for detecting and reducing elder abuse.

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Families and caregiving

http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/index.php/assist/article/elderly-caregiving-choices-challenges-and-resources-for-the-family/

This site, which is sponsored by the University of California San Francisco, discusses the choices and challenges of providing care to elderly family members. It also has a list of frequently asked questions about caregiving as well as a list of resources and suggestions for family members who are in the caregiver role as well as older adults who are in need of caregiving.

Note: Googling with the terms caregiving and elderly will lead to additional sites related to this topic.

Grandparenting

www.aarp.org/family/grandparenting/

The AARP website includes links to many topics related to grandparenting. There are links to information on resources for grandparents who are raising grandchildren, suggestions for activities with grandchildren, help for grandparents with visitation issues, and suggested books of interest to grandparents.

Demographics of Grandparents and Grandchildren

www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/grandparents.html

This site, maintained by the United States Census Bureau, reports on information collected annually on the demographic characteristics of grandparents and grandchildren.

National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA)

http://www.ncea.aoa.gov

This website, sponsored by the Administration on Aging, provides facts on elder abuse, as well as information on how to prevent, recognize, or respond to elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation. There are links for obtaining additional information on these topics.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

Select the best answer from the options provided.

1. Which of the following would be predicted by activity theory?

a. High activity; high life satisfaction

b. Low activity; high life satisfaction

c. High activity; low life satisfaction

d. No relationship between activity and life satisfaction

2. Which of the following would be predicted by disengagement theory?

a. Low activity; high life satisfaction

b. Low activity; low life satisfaction

c. High activity; high life satisfaction

d. No relationship between activity and life satisfaction

3. According to disengagement theory, society pressures older adults to withdraw by stepping aside to make room for upcoming younger generations. Older adults do so because of the pressure, but they do it unwillingly.

a. True

b. False

4. According to socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), social interaction can serve several functions. Which is (are) most important for older adults?

a. Social interaction as a way to develop one’s identity, or sense of self.

b. Social interaction as a source of information.

c. Social interaction as a source of emotional regulation, or well-being.

d. All of the above are equally important, or central, for older adults.

5. According to socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), people with a long time horizon (for example, people who perceive that they have a long future in a particular place or that they have many years left to live) _______________.

a. prefer to interact socially with familiar partners

b. are only interested in social interactions that will give them positive emotional fulfillment

c. are usually not interested in becoming involved in social interactions at all

d. prefer to interact socially with novel (new, unfamiliar) partners

6. According to the social exchange theory of social interactions, a social interaction between two partners is balanced if _____________________.

a. one partner persuades the other partner to participate in the social interaction

b. if one partner gets more reward than the other does from the social interaction

c. if both partners value the social interaction to an equal extent

d. if one partner accepts having less power than the other has

7. Compared to younger adults, older adults are____________ to become involved in intense emotional interactions (both positive and negative) when interacting with others, especially if those others are new acquaintances.

a. more likely

b. less likely

c. equally likely

8. According to the convoy model, _____________.

a. the network of an individual’s social relationships becomes larger from young to older adulthood

b. adults of all ages prefer to take others along on trips to other parts of the country

c. there is a social network of emotionally close others that moves with a person throughout life

d. the network of close social relationships constantly changes over the course of life

9. The term “support bank” refers to the fact that ________________.

a. some older adults go through life needing more emotional support than others do

b. some older adults give more financial support to family members than they get back

c. many local banks offer special accounts for older adults who make weekly deposits

d. older adults who give a lot of social support to others earlier in life feel it is legitimate to receive more support than they give later in life

10. In Levitt et al.’s study on English-speaking and Spanish-speaking triads (young adult women, their mothers, and their grandmothers), it was found that ______________.

a. there were more friends than family members in the social networks of the Spanish-speaking triads than in the social networks of the English-speaking triads

b. there were more friends than family members in the social networks of the English-speaking triads than in the social networks of the Spanish-speaking triads

c. there was an equal proportion of friends in the social networks of the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking triads

11. In Levitt et al.’s study on triads (young adult women, their mothers, and their grandmothers), it was found that family members ___________________.

a. make up a smaller proportion of the inner circle of the social network for the older cohort than for the young cohort

b. make up the same proportion of the inner circle of the social network for the young and older adult cohorts

c. make up a larger proportion of the inner circle of the social network for the older adult cohort than for the young adult cohort

d. are never part of the young adult cohort’s convoy

12. As long as older adult parents are in reasonable health, they usually provide more support for their adult offspring than their middle-aged adult offspring do for them.

a. True

b. False

13. Lang and Carstensen studied individual differences in the social networks of a sample of older adults ranging from 70 to 104 years of age. They found _____________.

a. the size of the social network was inversely related to chronological age

b. the oldest study participants had no meaningful emotional ties with others

c. extraverts had smaller social networks than introverts did

d. individuals in the social networks of these older adults were not emotionally close

14. The family into which a person is born is called the ______________.

a. family of procreation

b. extended family

c. family of origin

d. nuclear family household

15. The term “intimacy at a distance” has been used to describe the fact that ___________.

a. middle-aged adults want to keep their distance from their older parents

b. older adults would like to live under the same roof with their adult children but they have not been allowed to do so

c. older adults love their adult children but do not want to attend family parties or social gatherings

d. older adults welcome contact and involvement with family members but they prefer to maintain their own households as long as they are able to

16. The beanpole family structure is one in which there are _______________.

a. few living generations but many members in each one

b. many living generations but few members in each one

c. family members living at great distances from one another

d. family members who all live close by and eat their meals together most of the time

17. Research studies on marital satisfaction indicate that ___________________.

a. marital satisfaction is highest in the early years of the marriage and then shows a steady decline as time goes by

b. marital satisfaction is low in the early years but steadily increases over the years

c. the arrival of children puts a strain on a marriage, but marital relationships improve once the children are launched and living independently

d. self-reported marital satisfaction is always high in late-life after many years or decades of marriage

18. In studies comparing middle-aged and older married couples, ______________.

a. disagreements about adult children were a greater source of conflict among the older couples than among the middle-aged couples

b. when conversing about topics on which they disagreed, older speakers displayed more emotion than middle-aged speakers did

c. wives were more expressive than husbands, whereas husbands were more restrained when they were speaking about topics about which there was conflict

d. among the couples who reported a low level of marital satisfaction, the older couples were more likely than the middle-aged couples to express negative affect and escalate the level of conflict as they interacted

19. With regard to older parent–adult child relationships, which is the closest?

a. Father–son

b. Father–daughter

c. Mother–son

d. Mother–daughter

20. According to the intergenerational stake hypothesis, ________________.

a. adult offspring perceive their older parents in a more favorable light than the older parents perceive their adult children

b. adult offspring and their older parents have many sources of conflict that remain unresolved

c. older parents perceive their relationships with adult children as closer and more compatible than adult offspring consider their relationships with their parents to be

d. older parents want to be free of their adult children as soon as they are launched into independent lives

21. Research by Clarke et al. found that the source of greatest conflict that adult children report having with their older parents is _____________.

a. communication styles, including criticism

b. household standards and maintenance

c. political and religious ideology

d. childrearing practices and values

22. Research by Clarke et al. found that the source of greatest conflict older adults report having with their adult children is _____________.

a. life style choices (e.g., style of dress, occupational choices, alcohol use)

b. communication styles including criticism

c. not applicable because older adults never experience conflict with adult children

23. The term “sandwich generation” refers to ______________.

a. school-age grandchildren who eat snacks at their grandparents’ houses after school

b. young adults who rush between school and jobs and do not have time for a hot meal

c. older adults who gather for the mid-day meal at local senior center

d. middle-aged adults who have children as well as elderly parents to care for

24. The most important factor as far as adult daughters’ positive feelings about caregiving for their older mothers is that ________________.

a. the duration of their caregiving duties is relatively brief

b. the level of care their mothers need does not increase over time

c. both of the above

d. neither of the above

25. According to Kivnick and Sinclair, the most common grandparenting style in contemporary American society is _________________.

a. remote

b. companionate

c. involved

d. intrusive

26. Compared to European American family caregivers, African American family caregivers perceive caring for older family members _____________.

a. less favorably

b. more favorably

c. equally favorably

27. Which grandparent is likely to spend the most time with grandchildren?

a. A widowed grandmother

b. A married grandmother

c. A remarried grandfather

d. All of the above will spend a similar amount of time with grandchildren.

28. The nature of sibling relationships from early to late life has been described using a(n)________ analogy.

a. pyramid

b. triangle

c. hourglass

d. hexagon

29. According to the hierarchical-compensatory model, _________________.

a. siblings are the first people older adults call on for support when they are in need

b. siblings are called upon for support when a spouse or adult children are not available

c. siblings are never called upon for support no matter how great a brother of sister’s need

d. sibling relationships that may have been close earlier in life become strained in later life

30. Which sibling bond is likely to be closest in older adulthood?

a. Sister–sister

b. Sister–brother

c. Brother–brother

d. All of the above are equally close.

31. A study on relationships among European American sibling dyads and African American sibling dyads found that __________________.

a. European American siblings were emotionally closer and more likely to provide support for one another than was the case for African American siblings

b. African American siblings were emotionally closer and more likely to provide support for one another than was the case for European American siblings

c. there was no difference among the European American and African American siblings with regard to their emotional closeness or likelihood of supporting one another

32. When given a choice, older adults always express a preference for spending time with their adult children rather than spending time with close friends.

a. True

b. False

33. If there are no obvious signs of physical trauma, an investigator can be sure that an older adult has not been abused.

a. True

b. False

34. Which of the following is a risk factor for becoming a victim of elder abuse in a domestic setting?

a. Being an older man rather than an older woman

b. Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other type of dementia

c. Being at a low socioeconomic level

d. All of the above

35. Which person is most likely to become an abuser in a domestic setting?

a. A spouse who cares for a husband/wife with physical or cognitive incapacities.

b. An adult son who visits but lives in his own home.

c. An adult daughter who shares the care of the older adult with her brothers and sisters.

d. All of the above are equally likely to become abusers of an older adult.

36. Elder abuse in institutional settings __________________.

a. may be related to staff “burnout”

b. can be verbal as well as physical

c. may be reduced by providing educational and morale-building workshops for the staff

d. All of the above

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. Compare the activity theory and disengagement theory of social interactions in older adulthood.

2. What does social exchange theory say about social interactions between two people?

3. Briefly describe socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) and state what this theory would predict about the number of individuals young adults versus older adults are likely to have in their social network?

4. What is meant by the terms social convoy and social network and how are they related?

5. What is meant by the terms modified extended family and intimacy at a distance?

6. Carstensen, Gottman, and Levenson made video recordings of middle-aged and older adult married couples as they conversed about a topic on which they disagreed. What differences did they find were found, and were there any similarities?

7. What is the intergenerational stake hypothesis and what does it predict about the relationship between older adults and their adult children?

8. How does the intergenerational ambivalence theory contribute to our understanding of the relationships between older adults and their adult children?

9. What does the hierarchical compensatory model have to say about sibling ties in older adulthood?

10. What forms can elder abuse take and how does abuse differ from neglect?

11. What does the situational model of elder abuse have to say about why elder abuse occurs?