Helene H. Fung

Social support and life satisfaction among Hong Kong Chinese older adults: family first?

Family members and friends are important for the psychological well being of older adults. The present study examined the relative contribution of these two sources of support to life satisfaction among Chinese older adults living in Hong Kong. The moderating role of familism, which represents the commitment of family members to the family, was also examined. One hundred and eight Chinese older adults participated in the study. Findings suggest that, in general, family support contributes more to the life satisfaction of older adults than does friend support. While emotional support from family members is beneficial to life satisfaction of older adults regardless of individual differences in familism, instrumental support contributes more to life satisfaction for older adults with higher familism.

Self-perception and psychological well-being: the benefits of foreseeing a worse future.

This study examined whether having a negative expectation of the future may protect well-being in old age. Participants were 200 adults age 60 years or older who rated their current and future selves in the physical and social domains at 2 time points over a 12-month period. Structural equation modeling revealed that future self was positively related to well-being concurrently; yet, it was negatively related to well-being 12 months later, after the authors had controlled for symptoms and current self. Moreover, individuals who underestimated their future selves had higher well-being 12 months later than did those who overestimated their future selves. Findings are interpreted in a framework of discounting: Older adults may actively construct representations of the future that are consistent with the normative age-related declines and losses, so that the effects of these declines and losses are lessened when they actually occur.

Aging in Culture

This article reviews the empirical studies that test socioemotional aging across cultures. The review focuses on comparisons between Western (mostly North Americans and Germans) and Eastern cultures (mostly Chinese) in areas including age-related personality, social relationships, and cognition. Based on the review, I argue that aging is a meaning-making process. Individuals from each cultural context internalize cultural values with age. These internalized cultural values become goals that guide adult development. When individuals from different cultures each pursue their own goals with age, cultural differences in socioemotional aging occur.

Benefits of Negative Social Exchanges for Emotional Closeness

Negative exchanges in social relationships have traditionally been studied as having negative consequences. This study explored whether they might have positive effects for relationship closeness. The sample included 351 adults, aged between 18 and 91 years, residing in Hong Kong, China. Closeness of social partners to the participants was measured by the Social Convoy Questionnaire, and the levels of negative exchanges and social support from each social partner were assessed. Multilevel analyses revealed that more negative exchanges were associated with a more positive change in closeness over a 2-year period, even after statistically controlling for social support and sociostructural characteristics of the participant and the social partner. Findings extended our knowledge on the positive effects of negative exchanges and their moderating conditions.

Physical Activity and Psychological Well-Being among Hong Kong Chinese Older Adults: Exploring the Moderating Role of Self-Construal:

This study examined the association between physical activity (PA) and psychological well-being—self-esteem and relatedness satisfaction—among 102 Hong Kong Chinese older adults. It also tested whether independent-interdependent self-construal moderated the association. Physical activity, self esteem, relatedness satisfaction, and self-construal were measured by the Yale Physical Activity Scale, the Rosenbergs Self-Esteem Scale, the Relatedness Satisfaction subscale of the Basic Need Satisfaction in General Questionnaire, and Gudykunst, Matsunoto, Ting-Toomey, and Nishidas (1996) Self-Construal Scale respectively. Findings revealed a positive association between PA and relatedness satisfaction, but not self-esteem. Interdependent self-construal moderated the relationship between physical exercise and relatedness satisfaction. These findings suggest that PA may be psychologically beneficial to older adults across cultures, but its benefits may depend on cultural emphasis and individual self-construal.

Living status and psychological well-being: social comparison as a moderator in later life.

Objectives: Older adults who live alone have been found to have lower psychological well-being than their age peers who live with someone. This study examined whether downward social comparison, i.e. perceiving oneself as better than others, would moderate this relationship. Method: A total of 205 Chinese aged 60 years or over were recruited. They rated themselves and ‘someone their age’ on a list of personal descriptions. Downward social comparison was defined as the extent to which their ratings of self were better than ratings of age peers. Life satisfaction and depression were measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the CES-D Scale, respectively. Results: Participants living alone were more depressed than those living with someone; yet this difference was larger among those with lower levels than those with higher levels of downward social comparison. This interaction effect was not found for life satisfaction. Conclusion: Findings suggest that, although living alone is a risk factor for depression in old age, its negative effect can be reduced or even eliminated when downward social comparison is practised. These findings highlight the importance and effectiveness of psychological adaptation in the face of relatively more objective challenges in old age.

A Dynamic Process Model of Forgiveness: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to discuss cultural similarities and differences in the processes of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a complex construct without a consensual definition. Generally speaking, forgiveness is the process that involves a change in cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behaviors regarding the transgressor (R. D. Enright & R. P. Fitzgibbons, 2000). Scientific interest in forgiveness has rapidly increased in the recent years, but whether the conceptualizations and underling mechanisms of forgiveness are similar across cultures still remain unclear. A dynamic process model of forgiveness is proposed in this paper, which includes the sociocultural, cognitive, emotional, motivational, and behavioral aspects of forgiveness processes. Particular processes that are likely to differ across Eastern–Western cultures are identified.

Interdependent self-construal moderates the age-related negativity reduction effect in memory and visual attention.

There is some debate concerning whether people selectively attend to and remember less negative relative to positive or neutral information with age. We argue that such an age-related negativity reduction effect may be attenuated among individuals who are more interdependent, as they are likely to perceive negative information as equally useful and important as positive information. In 2 studies, we tested this hypothesis by examining memory for (Study 1) and visual attention to (Study 2) emotional (positive vs. negative) stimuli among younger, middle-aged, and older Chinese participants. Findings revealed that the age-related negativity reduction effect was found to a lesser extent among older Chinese individuals who were more interdependent than among those who were less interdependent.

Gender differences in social network characteristics and psychological well-being among Hong Kong Chinese: The role of future time perspective and adherence to Renqing

Gender differences in social network characteristics are well documented in the literature. Socioemotional selectivity theory emphasizes the importance of future time perception on selection of social partners whereas cultural studies stress the roles of Renqing (relationship orientation) on social interactions. This study examined the effects of future time perspective and adherence to Renqing on social network characteristics, and their associations with psychological well-being of 321 Chinese men and women, aged 28–91 years. Results showed that adherence to Renqing partially accounted for gender differences in the number of relatives, even after controlling for the effects of extraversion and structural factors. Moreover, women, but not men, with lower adherence to Renqing and more limited future time perspective were found to be happier when they had fewer close friends in their social networks.

The Dynamic Goal Theory of Marital Satisfaction

Marital satisfaction is gaining increasing concern in modern society. The current review proposes the dynamic goal theory of marital satisfaction to integrate previous findings about marital satisfaction from a life span developmental perspective. The theory argues that people have multiple goals to achieve in their marriage. These marital goals can be classified into three categories: personal growth goals, companionship goals, and instrumental goals. The priority of the three types of marital goals is under dynamic changes across adulthood. Generally speaking, young couples emphasize the personal growth goals, middle-aged couples prioritize the instrumental goals, and old couples focus on the companionship goals. Whether the prioritized marital goals are achieved in marriage determines marital satisfaction. Other factors influencing marital satisfaction can be linked with marital goals in two ways. Some factors, such as life transitions and cultural values, can affect the priority of different marital goals; while other factors, such as communication pattern, problem solving, and attribution, can facilitate the achievement of the prioritized marital goals.