A measure of relational competence for community-dwelling elderly.

Abstract

A measure of relational competence was developed to assess the skills necessary for peer friendship development among the elderly. Participants were required to respond to a series of social problem vignettes that were constructed to tap empathy, assertion, and role-taking skills. Validation data were collected as part of a larger project designed to establish indigenous, elderly peer-support telephone dyads among low-income, community-dwelling elderly women. Results indicated that the measure of relational competence was related to initial friendship formation, telephone conversational skills, and rated social competence as determined by judges' ratings of 2 telephone conversations between participants and staff members. The research illustrates the usefulness of moving away from trait conceptions of social competence to a more focused consideration of particular task demands and the skills needed to solve age-linked social problems.

Young and older adults’ views of telephone talk: Conversation problems and social uses

“…That the older adults use the telephone less often and less for Sociability, which was positively correlated with frequency of calls made within the older group, suggests that those with poorer relationship skills may use the telephone less, leading to a higher risk for isolation. Partial support for this comes from a study by Hogg and Heller (1990) where relational competence was found to be related to initial friendship formation, telephone skills, and social competence ratings of telephone conversations.…”

Moral and social reasoning and perspective taking in later life: A longitudinal study.

“…Furthermore, there is evidence from childhood that advances in perspective-taking skills may underlie the progression in the development of moral reasoning identified by Kohlberg (Kohlberg, 1969;Selman, 1980). Again, however, there is only limited research in mature adulthood on age differences in perspective-taking skills, all of it cross-sectional in nature (Chap, 1986;Cohen, Bearison, & Muller, 1987;Hogg & Heller, 1990). Chap (1986) conducted a cross-sectional study of moral judgment and spontaneous roletaking in moral reasoning in older adults.…”

Cohort differences in having and retaining friends in personal networks in later life

“…There has been a steady increase in these factors during the last half century, due to expansion of educational opportunities and corresponding increases in occupational level in successive cohorts, and to higher levels of employment of women (Liefbroer & Dykstra, 2000). Education is related to relational competence, which in turn increases the likelihood of developing and maintaining friendships (Hogg & Heller, 1990;Shaw et al, 2007). Employment provides structural opportunities for developing personal ties at work that may evolve into friendship (Rawlins, 1992).…”