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Social Usefulness: Theory and Evidence Concerning a Late Life Identity Construct
Benjamin H Gottlieb1, Andrée Sevigny2
1Department of Psychology , University of Guelph Laval University, Ontario, Canada bgottlie@uoguelph.ca.
Purpose Of The Study:
To clarify the construct of social usefulness by merging several influential theoretical perspectives on the findings of a qualitative investigation of late life prosociality.
Design And Methods:
In-depth interviews with 20 older adults probed the meaning and psychological significance of the socially useful relationships they maintained with people and organizations.
Results:
Based on identity theory, the thematic analysis yielded nine classes and more than 100 distinct properties of social usefulness. Self-determination theory was employed to organize and interpret the findings in relation to older adults' needs for relatedness, autonomy, and competence.
Implications:
Also addressed are the study's implications for multidimensional measurement of social usefulness in future epidemiological and psychosocial studies.
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