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Cultural Specificity of Socioemotional Selectivity: Age Differences in Social Network Composition Among Germans and Hong Kong Chinese

¹ Department of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.
² Department of Developmental Psychology, Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
³ Institute of Psychogerontology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.

Address correspondence to Helene Fung, Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Room 328 Sino Building, Chung Chi College, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. E-mail: hhlfung{at}psy.cuhk.edu.hk

We examined age differences in social network composition among 330 Germans and 330 Hong Kong Chinese, aged 20 to 91 years. We measured social network composition with the Social Convoy Questionnaire. In both cultures, older age was associated with the same number of close social partners and fewer peripheral social partners than was younger age. However, the patterns of age differences in specific relationships differed across cultures: Age was negatively associated with the proportion of nuclear family members among Germans but the association was positive among Hong Kong Chinese. Age was positively associated with the proportion of acquaintances among Germans but the association was negative among Hong Kong Chinese. We discuss the findings in terms of whether the socioemotional selectivity theory holds in both cultures.

Key Words: Age differences • Social network composition • Socioemotional selectivity theory

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