A Brief Note On Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

Santrock (2015) defined socioemotional selectivity theory as the tendency of older adults to become selective of their social networks. Elderlies are believed to withdraw from social contacts with individuals peripheral to their lives and maintain or increase their contact with individuals with whom they have rewarding relationship such as their close friends and family members which can help them to maximize positive emotional experiences and minimize emotional risks (p. 571). This can be supported by Zettel-Watson and Rook (2009) who stated that new friendships are less likely to be forged especially following the death of a spouse and Charles and Piazza (2007) who discussed that elderlies experienced less intense

Rao et. al. (2015) revealed that majority of the elderlies didn’t receive love, respect and affection from their family members, were highly dissatisfied with the behavior of their children and were considered as a burden by the family members. In addition, Chan et. al. (2015) found out that one of the significant risk factor for mortality among elderlies is loneliness. On the other hand, variances in the experience of loneliness and depression with diverse demographic characteristics was discussed by Sum et. al. (2015). It can be supported by Singh and Srivastava (2014) who studied the relationship between loneliness and quality of life among 50 elderly people and found a significant correlation, having female as high scorers on loneliness and low scorers in quality of life than male. These investigations revealed that elderlies face loneliness and differ in their level of loneliness based on their demographic profile. However, these studies are only limited to the experience of loneliness and don’t show the quality of relationship of elderlies with other

Olagunju et. al. (2015) investigated the burden and severity of depression and its relationship with social support and found out that low level of social support was associated with depression especially from significant others and family members. This can be related to the examination of Choi et. al. (2015) who found a significant effect of social isolation to the behavioral health of older adults particularly sleep disturbance and depression. Similarly, Shimada et. al. (2014) revealed high prevalence of social isolation among elderlies and was associated with poor mental health and lack of social support from nonfamily members. Though these undertakings presented the prevalence and effects of social isolation among elderlies, these don’t give comprehensive explanation to the relationship of elderlies with