How Do Social Relationships Affect Later Life Planning?

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Sage Publications Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0370033 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1541-3535 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00914150 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Aging Hum Dev Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: 2015- : Los Angeles : Sage Publications
      Original Publication: Farmingdale, N. Y., Baywood Pub. Co.
    • Subject Terms:
      Interpersonal Relations*; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Retirement/psychology ; Aged, 80 and over ; Friends/psychology ; Aging/psychology ; Family/psychology ; Terminal Care/psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires
    • Abstract:
      Relatively little is known about how social relationships affect later life planning. Our study focuses on an underexamined aspect of social relationships, frequency of contact - not only with family members but also with friends. Using data from a survey of Floridians aged 50 and older conducted between December 2020 and April 2021 (n = 3,832), we examine the association between frequency of contact and five planning types: finances, health care, living arrangements, driving retirement, and end-of-life. We found that more frequent contact was associated with greater likelihood of planning, and this result was largely consistent across types of relationships and types of planning. Our findings suggest that contact with family members and friends may encourage more planning, which could reduce the stress that can accompany later life transitions. Our study offers further evidence of social relationships' centrality to later life well-being and points to the many benefits of enhancing them.
      Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: driving cessation; end-of-life; family; friends; marital status; subjective aging
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20240221 Date Completed: 20241205 Latest Revision: 20241205
    • Publication Date:
      20241209
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/00914150241231195
    • Accession Number:
      38380863