Social Exchanges and Subjective Well-Being among Older Chinese: Does Age Make a Difference?

摘要

We examined the effects of social support and negative interactions on life satisfaction and depressed affect among older Chinese, and age differences in these associations. The sample consisted of 2,943 Chinese elders aged 60 to 94 years old. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results suggest that both social support and negative interactions have significant contributions to life satisfaction and depressed affect. Social support has stronger effects than negative interactions on life satisfaction; their effects on depressed affect are comparable. Further, depressed affect of old-old (70+) Chinese reacts more strongly to both social support and negative interactions than the young-old (60-69).