Age Moderates
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depression, = -.15, p < .01, and loneliness, = -.19, p <.001. There was no age by family
contact interaction in predicting symptoms of depression, but age was a significant
moderator of the relationship between family contact and loneliness,
= .14, p < .05.
Decomposition of this interaction effect revealed that family contact was most strongly (and
negatively) associated with loneliness under conditions of younger age, = -.32, p < .001,
followed by average or middle age, = -.19, p < .05, and least for older age, = -.06, ns.
These regression slopes are plotted in Figure 3. If contact with family members helps to
prevent loneliness, it is clear that this effect is most pronounced among the younger adults.
For the older adults, there is virtually no relationship between contact with family members
and feeling lonely.
Results of regression analyses on contact with friends appear in Table 5, and
indicate that this contact was negatively associated with both depression, = -.32, p < .001,
and loneliness, = -.21, p < .001. However, there was no age by contact with friends
interaction for predicting symptoms of depression or loneliness, suggesting that the
beneficial effects of contact with friends are uniform across the life span.
Relationship Standards and Psychosocial Problems
Hypothesis two predicted that age would be negatively associated with relationships
standards. A correlation analysis of age and relationships standards indicated no significant
association between age and the singlehood standard, r (310) = -.01, ns. However, age was
significantly correlated with the partner standard, r (308) = .16, p < .01, suggesting that
attitudes and beliefs about the value of and necessity of close relationships for enrichment
and fulfillment become slightly more positive with age.
Convention