Document Detail


Sense of social interaction in the elderly.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19218684     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
The intuit is that the need for social interaction increases in the elderly. The issue, however, has not been thoroughly investigated. In the present study we posed the following main questions: (i) does the need for social interaction indeed increase in older age? and (ii) is there a defined personality trait that would interact with the level of social interaction? The study was one of a self-reported group survey. A total of 50 women were enrolled, who were divided into two even contrasting age-groups: young, 20-30 years, and senior, 60-80 years old. The main exclusion criterion was depression, which was screened for before subject enrollment. The results demonstrate that the need for interpersonal meetings was similar in the young and old women; the mean score amounted to 15.4 +/-0.5 and 15.6 +/-0.6 points, respectively. The most frequent reason for the meetings in both young and old women was to socialize; 80 and 68% of women, respectively. The rarest, in turn, reason was to get help in everyday life matters; 8% young and 12% old women. Thus, we failed to show appreciable differences in the need, character, and goals of social interaction between the two age-groups of women. Social interaction had most often a free and selfless character. We also found that extraversion, independent of age, facilitated social interaction. In conclusion, although to the question asked of whether 'the older the person, the more he/she misses the interaction with others' 76-88% of the surveyed women in both age-groups answered affirmatively, the findings of the present study failed to confirm that.
Authors:
M Pokorski; A Cajdler; K Menzyk
Publication Detail:
Type:  Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of physiology and pharmacology : an official journal of the Polish Physiological Society     Volume:  59 Suppl 6     ISSN:  1899-1505     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Physiol. Pharmacol.     Publication Date:  2008 Dec 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-02-16     Completed Date:  2009-04-17     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9114501     Medline TA:  J Physiol Pharmacol     Country:  Poland    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  579-84     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland. mpokorski@cmdik.pan.pl
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Aged / psychology*
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Extraversion (Psychology)
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations*
Introversion (Psychology)
Male
Middle Aged
Neurotic Disorders / psychology
Personality
Psychometrics
Social Environment

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Depression and memory: a comparative study of young and old women.
Next Document:  Influence of microinjections of D,L-homocysteic acid into the Botzinger complex area on the cough re...