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N Frieswijk, B P Buunk, N Steverink

    Tijdschrift Voor Gerontologie En Geriatrie
    |December 4, 2012
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Older adults use social comparison to adapt to aging. Downward social comparison enhances life satisfaction, particularly for frail individuals who identify less with the person they compare themselves to.

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    Area of Science:

    • Gerontology
    • Social Psychology

    Background:

    • Social comparison is a key cognitive process for older adults adapting to aging.
    • Downward social comparison, comparing oneself to those worse off, can enhance life satisfaction despite age-related losses.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To examine the effects of social comparison direction (upward vs. downward) on life satisfaction in older adults.
    • To investigate the moderating roles of frailty and identification in social comparison's impact on life satisfaction.

    Main Methods:

    • A study involving 455 community-dwelling older adults.
    • Participants were exposed to fictitious interviews representing upward or downward social comparison targets.

    Main Results:

    • Downward comparison led to higher life satisfaction than upward comparison, especially for more frail individuals.

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  • This effect was significant only when participants reported lower levels of identification with the comparison target.

    • Conclusions:

    • Downward social comparison can be a valuable coping mechanism for older adults, particularly the frail.
    • The self-enhancing effect of downward comparison is contingent on the individual perceiving the comparison target as dissimilar to themselves.