Abstract：
Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine if there are longitudinal reciprocal effects between social network size and purpose in life among older adults. Methods: Using data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, the sample included 1485 male and 2058 female adults 65 years and older. We first computed t-tests to assess gender differences in social network size and purpose in life. In order to examine the reciprocal effects between social network size and purpose in life over four time points (2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020), a RI-CLPM (Model 1) was computed. In addition to the main model, two multiple group RI-CLPM analyses (Model 2 and 3) were computed to test the moderated gender effect on the relationship with models estimating unconstrained and constrained cross-lagged parameters. Results: The results of the t-tests denoted significant gender differences in social network size and purpose in life. The results indicated that Model 1 fit the data well. The carry-over effects of social networks and purpose in life and spill-over effect from wave 3 purpose in life on wave 4 social networks were significant. There were no significant differences between the constrained and unconstrained models testing for moderated gender effects. Discussion: The findings of the study highlight the significant carry-over effect of purpose in life and social network size over four years and the positive spill-over effect from purpose in life on social network size at the subsequent wave, which only appeared at the last time point.
摘要：
目标：这项研究的目的是研究老年人的社交网络规模与生活目的之间是否存在纵向相互影响。方法：使用国家健康与老龄化趋势研究的数据，样本包括1485名65岁及以上的男性成年人和2058名女性成年人.我们首先计算t检验来评估社交网络规模和生活目的的性别差异。为了研究四个时间点(2017年、2018年、2019年和2020年)社会网络规模与生活目的之间的相互影响，计算了RI-CLPM(模型1)。除了主要模型，我们计算了两个多组RI-CLPM分析(模型2和模型3),以利用估计无约束和约束交叉滞后参数的模型来检验性别对关系的调节效应.结果：t检验的结果表明，在社交网络规模和生活目的方面存在显着性别差异。结果表明，模型1很好地拟合了数据。社交网络和生活目的的结转效应以及生活目的第三波对第四波社交网络的溢出效应是显着的。受约束模型和无约束模型在测试适度性别效应方面没有显着差异。讨论：研究结果强调了四年来生活目的和社交网络规模的显着结转效应，以及随后浪潮中生活目的对社交网络规模的积极溢出效应，只出现在最后一个时间点。
