Social Cognition, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2006, pp.

248-278

FUNG AGE DIFFERENCES AND CARSTENSEN IN SOCIAL PREFERENCES

GOALS CHANGE WHEN LIFES FRAGILITY IS PRIMED: LESSONS LEARNED FROM OLDER ADULTS, THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS AND SARS
Helene H. Fung Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Laura L. Carstensen Stanford University

Socioemotional selectivity theory maintains that the perception of time systematically influences motivation. Most experimental research testing this postulate has relied on paradigms in which participants are asked to make choices under conditions where they imagine that time is constrained or expanded. The present studies tested key theoretical postulates under naturalistic conditions by examining social goals before and after the September 11 attacks and throughout the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. Findings suggest that sociocultural events that presumably prime the fragility of life increase motivation to derive emotional meaning from life in both the young and old.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1993, 1995; Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999; Carstensen, Fung, & Charles, 2003) maintains that when people are reminded of the finitude of their lives, attention shifts from futureoriented goals

This research was supported by Hong Kong Research Grants Council Earmarked Research Grant CUHK4256/03H and a Chinese University of Hong Kong Direct Grant awarded to Helene Fung and NIA grant RO18816 to Laura L. Carstensen. Please direct correspondence concerning this manuscript to Helene H. Fung, Department of Psychology, Rm. 328, Sino Bldg., Chung Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.

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to emotionally meaningful goals. The theory was originally formulated to predict and explain age differences in motivation. However, to the extent that other life contexts or situations constrain perceived time left in life, such experiences may act on motivation in similar ways. We examined this postulate in two studies that assessed social goals before and after the September 11 attacks on the United States, and throughout the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Hong Kong. Aging, the September 11 attacks and SARS are three very different situations. Should we find the same pattern of social goals in all three situations, we would have greater confidence in arguing that when there are cues to prime the finitude of life, people show preferences for relationships that are close and meaningful.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Socioemotional selectivity theory presumes that goals are always set in temporal contexts and that the relative importance of specific goals within this goal constellation changes as a function of perceived time. When future is perceived as openended, futureoriented goals, such as seeking information or expanding horizons, weigh most heavily and individuals pursue goals that optimize longrange outcomes. In contrast, when endings are perceived, goal constellations are reorganized such that emotionally meaningful goalsdefined as goals related to feelings, such as balancing emotional states or sensing that one is needed by othersare prioritized, because such goals have more immediate payoffs. Many situationsranging from graduations to geographical relocationsprime endings. Although achieved more gradually, approaching old age is also associated with the increasing recognition that time is, in some sense, running out. Socioemotional selectivity theory was originally formulated to explain and predict age differences in motivation. Because chronological age is associated with perceived time left in life, the theory predicts systematic age differences in motivation. Indeed, empirical evidences for a heightened focus on emotionally meaningful goals with age have been found in mental representations (Carstensen & Fredrickson, 1998; Fredrickson & Carstensen,

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1990), attention (Mather & Carstensen, 2003), memory (Carstensen & TurkCharles, 1994; Fung & Carstensen, 2003), and social goals and social network composition (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990; Fung, Carstensen, & Lang, 2001; Fung, Carstensen, & Lutz, 1999; Fung, Lai, & Ng, 2001; Lang & Carstensen, 1994). Importantly, the posited mechanism that theoretically accounts for these age differences is not developmental changes in the traditional sense, but agerelated shifts in time horizons. Thus, to the extent that other situations also reduce perceived time left in life, such experiences presumably shift motivation in similar ways as the more gradual but nonetheless steady experience of growing older.

INFLUENCE OF TIME PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIAL GOALS

One way to assess goals is to present people with tradeoffs in which particular options increase or decrease the likelihood of realizing a particular goal. To directly assess the influence of time perspective on social goals, our research team has developed an experimental paradigm in which participants are asked to imagine that they have 30 minutes free and choose to spend that time with one of three prospective social partners, namely, the author of a book you just read, a recent acquaintance with whom you appear to have much in common, or a member of your immediate family (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990). Goals are inferred from expressed social preferences. A cognitive categorization task had revealed that the author was rated high on the dimension of information gain, the acquaintance on future possibilities, and the family member on emotional potential (Carstensen & Fredrickson, 1998; Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990). Choosing the family memberan emotionally close social partnerreveals a preference for emotionally meaningful goals whereas choosing either of the other two options is regarded as showing a preference for knowledge or future possibility, that is, futureoriented goals. Over the years, other sets of social partner options have been used (Fung & Carstensen, 2004), but they generally yield similar results as the original set. Using this paradigm, we found that in both western and eastern cultures, older people showed strong preferences for emotionally

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close social partners whereas younger people did not (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990; Fung et al., 1999; Fung, Lai, et al., 2001). Moreover, experiments that manipulated perceived time effectively shifted age differences in social partner selection in predicted directions (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990; Fung et al., 1999): When younger people perceived constraints on time, they too showed strong preferences for spending time with emotionally close social partners; when older people perceived expanded time, however, such preferences were eliminated. Age differences in social partner selection were also effectively eliminated by statistically controlling for time perspective (Fung, Lai, et al., 2001). Fung and Carstensen (2004) crossvalidated the role of time perspective in social goals by examining the selfreported goals of younger and older adults under a number of experimental conditions that systematically modified perceived time, and distinguished between constraints related to time and constraints unrelated to time (e.g., financial difficulties). Findings showed that constraints related to time drove the effects. Regardless of age, people who perceived time constraints were more likely to seek social partners for their emotional significance, not merely for emotional support, than those who either perceived a nontimerelated constraint or no constraint at all. Such findings are consistent with other studies showing that younger adults who are in naturalistic situations that presumably prime endings also show a focus on emotionally meaningful goals. Carstensen and Fredrickson (1998), for example, found that young men with the HIV virus and symptoms of AIDS weighted the affective dimension as heavily as did the elderly on a categorization task of prospective social partners. Moreover, young adults who have a history of cancer have a greater number of emotionally close social partners in their networks and a greater need to attain emotional goals than do their age peers without a history of cancer (Kin & Fung, 2004). Adolescents who are involved in gangs report a more limited time perspective and a higher percentage of emotionally close social partners, compared with age peers who are not gang members (Liu & Fung, 2005). Even social endings heighten the salience of emotional goals. Graduating seniors report greater emotional involvement with

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close friends than do students who are not graduating (Fredrickson, 1995). If sufficient numbers of individuals focus on emotionally meaningful goals as they perceive future time as limited, it follows that groups that have shorter actuarial life expectancy may also be more likely to exhibit social patterns that reflect the prioritization of this type of goals, than are groups with a longer life expectancy. In fact, Fung, Lai, and Ng (2001) found that Mainland Chinese, whose actuarial life expectancy was seven years shorter than that of Taiwanese, were more likely to perceive time as limited. Moreover, compared with Taiwanese of a similar age range, Mainland Chinese were more likely to show preferences for emotionally close social partners. Importantly, such cultural differences in social preferences were no longer significant after statistically controlling for time perspective, suggesting it was indeed time perspective that accounted for the observed cultural differences. Similarly, AfricanAmericans, who as a group have shorter actuarial life expectancy than their EuropeanAmerican age peers, were found to have relatively fewer peripheral but the same number of emotionally close social partners in their social networks (Fung, Carstensen, & Lang, 2001).

APPLYING SOCIOEMOTIONAL SELECTIVITY THEORY TO THE STUDY OF MACROLEVEL ENDINGS

Although only modest attention has been paid to cultural (or macrolevel) endings, there is some evidence that sociopolitical events, which mark time, influence motivation in similar ways as do individual endings. Fung, Carstensen, and Lutz (1999) examined age differences in social preferences one year before, two months before, and one year after the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the Peoples Republic of China. The handover ended the over150year British rule in Hong Kong and was widely regarded in Hong Kong as a temporal marker beyond which life was uncertain. In the months prior to the handover, some political cartoons even depicted Hong Kong as a train headed for a blocked tunnel, or a tin can with June 30, 1997 (the day of the handover) as the expiry day (see Fung et al., 1999). We construed the handover as a macrolevel

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sociopolitical ending and predicted that the perceived limitations on time associated with the ending would influence social preferences just as our previous time manipulation had done. Indeed, a year before the handover, older but not younger Hong Kong people preferred emotionally close social partners. However, two months before the handover when the sociopolitical ending was very salient, both age groups preferred emotionally close social partners. One year after the handover when the transition had come and gone, age differences in social preferences reemerged. Younger Hong Kong people no longer preferred emotionally close social partners, presumably because they had turned a historical page and begun to focus again on the future. Older people, probably due to their limited time perspective at the individual level, continued to prefer emotionally close social partners. Although the findings from this Hong Kong study are intriguing, they are based on empirical observations around a single event. There is a need to replicate them. To address this need, the present studies examined agerelated social preferences around two macrolevel events in recent years: the September 11 attacks on the United States (Study 1) and the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong (Study 2). Both studies were conducted in Hong Kong. From the perspective of Hong Kong people, the September 11 attack was a crisis that occurred far away. Although the impact of the crisis was worldwide, neither they themselves nor members of their social circles experienced the crisis firsthand. In contrast, SARS was a crisis that directly affected the Hong Kong people. Should agerelated social preferences shift in similar ways across the two macrolevel events, we would have greater confidence in concluding that the age differences were probably generalizable across situationsas long as the situations prime endings. In addition, the reallife nature of the crises maximizes the ecological validity of our results.

STUDY 1
On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four U. S. passenger planes. Two of them crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one crashed into U. S. military headquarters in

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Washington, and another in Pennsylvania. The attacks resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries. Immediately after the attacks, there was worldwide uncertainty about the future (Broom, 2001). Even in Hong Kong, this kind of uncertainty was evident. Many worried that the United States would react in a way that could instigate a world war (The Sun, 2001). In short, the attacks induced a deeply unsettled feeling not only in the United States but also around the world, a state in which daily life became tentative and life itself viewed as more fragile (Gibbs, 2001; Flags Cant Hide Fear, 2002). Socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that under such temporal contexts, people prioritize emotionally meaningful goals and focus on emotionally close social partners. Anecdotes reported in the popular press suggested that this was the case. One World Trade Center survivor remarked, Im just so thankful to be here that I can see my life in a completely different direction. I just want to have a family, be close to my family (p. 5, WTC Survivors, 2002). The UCLA Internet Project (Lebo & Wolpert, 2002) observed that scores of people shared an emotional connection through email after the attacks (p. 1). To systematically test these observations, Study 1, using a crosssectional paradigm, compared agerelated social preferences in Hong Kong (1) in 1998 (i.e., preSeptember 11), (2) on September 2325, 2001 (i.e., right after September 11), and (3) on January 1422, 2002 (i.e., four months after September 11 when the Afghanistan war had ended and the Iraq war had not yet begun). We predicted that should the September 11 attacks limit time perspective and make individuals focus on emotionally meaningful goals, we should observe the following pattern of agerelated social preferences across these time points: In the preSeptember 11 period, older participants would be more likely to prefer emotionally close social partners to novel social partners than were younger participants. These age differences would disappear shortly after September 11, when the finitude of life was made salient for everyone. But the age differences would reemerge four months later after the war on Afghanistan, when the incident seemed to have come to a temporary close.

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METHOD
PARTICIPANTS Telephone sampling was conducted in all three geographic regions of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula and New Territories) in July 1998 (i.e., Pre9/11), on September 2325, 2001 (i.e., Right after 9/11), and on January 1422, 2002 (i.e., four months after 9/11 when the Afghanistan war had ended and the Iraq war had not yet begun). The Pre9/11 subsample was the sample recruited by Fung and colleagues in 1998 (Study 3, Fung et al., 1999). The Right after 9/11 and four months after 9/11 subsamples were recruited in the context of larger studies on emotions and coping toward the September 11 attacks. Telephone numbers of prospective participants were randomly selected from the telephone directories of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula and New Territories. The first page of each directory was divided into blocks of 50 numbers. One block was randomly selected, and every number in this block on every 20th page was called. Anyone who answered the telephone, regardless of age, was invited to participate in the study. The response rates for the three subsamples were 57% (see Fung et al., 1999), 51%, and 57% respectively. The final sample included 957 Chinese residing in Hong Kong. Among them, 226 participants were interviewed in the preSeptember 11 period (i.e., in 1998), 334 were interviewed right after September 11, and 397 were interviewed four months after September 11. Participants aged between 8 and 91 years, with 57% female. Average monthly income was HK$1000019999 (1 US$ = 7.8 HK$), average education level was secondary school (i.e., high school) graduation, and average perceived health was fair. Comparing these demographic characteristics with those reported in the Hong Kong Census suggests that these characteristics were representative of the general population in Hong Kong (Census and Statistics Department, 2005). The age, gender, perceived health, and socioeconomic status (income and education level) distributions for each subsample are listed in Table 1. Among these variables, only perceived health differed by subsamples (Pre9/11 vs. Right after 9/11 vs. four

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TABLE 1. Age, Gender, Health and Socioeconomic Status by Subsample Subsample Before 911 n Age (%) Under 18 1825 2635 3645 4655 5665 6675 7785 86 or above Gender (% Female) Health Socioeconomic status (Z score) 15.9 13.7 18.1 16.8 12.8 12.4 8.8 0.4 0.9 55.3 3.50(0.73)a .00 (1.00) 8.4 13.8 23.4 17.1 12.9 9.6 10.8 4.2 0.0 59.6 3.75(0.85)b .03(.99) 11.8 14.4 14.6 16.1 14.6 12.8 10.6 4.0 1.0 56.8 3.61(0.85)a .15(.97) 226 Right after 911 334 4 months after 911 397

Note. Standard deviations are in parentheses. Means with different subscripts were significantly different at p < .001.

months after 9/11), with participants interviewed in the Right after 9/11 period having slightly better perceived health (M = 3.75, SD = 0.85), than did those interviewed in the Pre9/11 (M = 3.50, SD = 0.73) and four months after 9/11 periods (M = 3.61, SD = 0.85), F(2, 955) = 8.418, MSE = .690, p < .001. Statistically controlling for perceived health did not affect the results reported below. MEASURES Perceived health was assessed by the question, How would you rate your health relative to the average person your age? Responses were scored on a 5point scale (5 = excellent, 4 = good, 3 = average, 2 = bad, 1 = poor). Socioeconomic status was assessed by questions on income and education level. Participants reported their monthly house-

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hold income in Hong Kong dollars. Income brackets ranged from 1 = < 5000, 2 = 50009999, 3 = 1000019999, 4 = 2000029999, to 5 = 30000 or above. Participants also reported education level (1 = lower than Primary, 2 = Primary, 3 = Secondary Form 13, 4 = Secondary Form 45, 5 = Secondary Form 7, 6 = Undergraduate, 7 = Masters, 8 = PhD). To combine income and education level into a composite index of socioeconomic status, we turned each variable into Zscores and then averaged the two variables. In addition, participants reported their gender (male vs. female) and age (1 = under 18 years old, 2 = 1825 years old, 3 = 2635 years old, 4 = 3645 years old, 5 = 4655 years old, 6 = 5665 years old, 7 = 6675 years old, 8 = 7785 years old, 9 = 86 years old or above). PROCEDURE Telephone interviews were conducted in Cantonese Chinese, the local dialect of Hong Kong. Participants were asked:
Imagine that you have half an hour of free time, with no pressing commitment. You have decided that youd like to spend this time with another person. Assuming that the following three people are available to you, which person would you choose to spend that time with?

Next, participants were presented with three prospective social partners in randomized order and were asked to choose from among them. One of them was a familiar partner, a member of your immediate family. The other two were novel partners, a recent acquaintance with whom you seem to have much in common and an author of a book youve read As noted above, these choices were prototypes of the dimensions along which people mentally represented prospective social partners (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990). A member of your immediate family represents the dimension of emotional potential. An author of a book youve read represents the dimension of informational potential. A recent acquaintance with whom you seem to have much in common represents the dimension of potential for future contact. Finally, participants were asked questions about their age, gender, health, and socioeconomic status.

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Since no theoretical distinction is made between the two novel social partners options (both represent futureoriented goals), we collapsed them into one category. In addition, because the percentages of participants who picked the two types of social partners always add up to 100%, only the percentages of participants who chose the familiar social partner were reported in the following analyses.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

An age (continuous) by time period (Pre9/11 vs. Right after 9/11 vs. four months after 9/11) logistic regression was conducted on social preferences (1 = familiar social partner, 2 = novel social partners). An age by time period interaction was found, Wald 2(2, N = 954) = 13.656, p = .001. To explore the nature of the interaction, we divided up the continuous age variable into four age groups: youth (under 18 years old, n = 111), young adults (aged 1835 years, n = 311), middleaged adults (aged 3655 years, n = 289), and older adults (aged 56 years or above, n = 246). We treated 56 years old as the cutoff for older adults because the official retirement age for the civil service (the largest group of employees) in Hong Kong is 55 years. Then, we examined social preferences by age groups for each time period. In cases where significant age differences were found, we employed Z tests (Ott, 1993, p. 384) to compare the percentages of participants who picked the familiar social partner in each pair of age groups. Figure 1 shows the percentages of participants who selected the familiar social partner by age group and time period. In the Pre9/11 period, social preferences differed by age groups, 2(3, N = 226) = 26.690, p < .001, effect size as indexed by Cramers V was .344. The youth were as likely to select the familiar social partner (33%) as were young adults (51%), Z = 1.781, ns. Meanwhile middleaged adults were as likely to select the familiar social partner (73%) as were older adults (81%), Z = 0.923, ns. Yet, the two younger groups were less likely to select the familiar social partner than were the two older groups. The youth were less likely to do so than were middleaged adults, Z = 3.919, p < .0001 and older adults, Z = 4.434, p < .0001; and young adults were less likely to do so than were middleaged adults, Z = 2.632, p = .0085 and older adults, Z = 3.290, p = .001.

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FIGURE 1. Percent selecting the familiar social partner by age group and time periods in Studies 1 & 2. Note. For each time period, percentages with different subscripts were significantly different at p < or = .05.

However, right after the September 11 attacks on the United States, the age groups no longer differed on social preferences, 2(3, N = 334) = 4.404, ns, Cramers V = .115. Instead, the majority in every age group (68% of the youth, 71% of young adults, 81% of middleaged adults and 70% of older adults) showed preferences for the familiar social partner. Age differences in social preferences reemerged four months later after the September 11 attacks, 2(3, N = 397) = 17.732, p < .001, Cramers V = .221. At this point, as in the Pre9/11 period, the youth were as likely to select the familiar social partner (53%) as were young adults (54%), Z = 0.081, ns. Middleaged adults were as likely to select the familiar social partner (77%) as were older adults (69%), Z = 1.383, ns. Yet, the two younger groups were once again less likely to select the familiar social partner than were the two older groups. Young adults were less likely to do so than were middleaged adults, Z = 3.747, p = .0002 and older adults Z = 2.342, p = .0192. The youth were significantly less likely to do so than were middleaged adults, Z = 3.037, p =

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.0024, and barely significantly less likely to do so than were older adults, Z = 1.901, p = .0573. Although not directly addressing our hypothesis, we dissected the age by time period interaction from another angle to examine whether the four age groups exhibited different social preferences across the three time periods. We conducted a logistic regression on social preferences (1 = familiar social partner, 2 = novel social partners) for each age group, with time period (Pre9/11 vs. Right after 9/11 vs. four months after 9/11) as the predictor. There were no time period differences in social preferences for either middleaged adults, Wald 2(2, n = 238) = 1.440, ns, or older adults, Wald 2(2, n = 246) = 2.431, ns. However, such differences were found for the youth, Wald 2(2, n = 111) = 7.432, p = .024, and young adults, 2(2, n = 311) = 10.049, p = .007. Indicator contrasts with the Pre9/11 period as the reference category revealed that the youth and young adults were more likely to select the familiar social partner in the Right after 9/11 period than in the Pre9/11 period, Wald 2(1, n = 111) = 7.182, p = .007 and Wald 2(1, n = 311) = 7.417, p = .006 respectively. But their social preferences in the four months after 9/11 period were not significantly different from those in the Pre9/11 period, Wald 2(1, n = 111) = 3.202, ns and Wald 2(1, n = 311) = 0.113, ns respectively. The above findings revealed that the September 11 attacks shifted agerelated social preferences in exactly the same way as the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China had done (Fung et al., 1999). In summary, before September 11 2001, younger people were less likely to prefer emotionally close social partnersas denoted by the familiar social partner optionthan were their older counterparts. Shortly after September 11, these age differences disappeared, and they reappeared four months after the event. These differences were likely attributable to the fact that many younger people shifted their social preferences from favoring novel social partners to favoring emotionally close social partners in the period right after the September 11 attacks.

STUDY 2
The findings from Study 1, together with our previous findings on the 1997 handover (Fung et al., 1999), suggest that macrolevel

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changes that limit future time perspective prioritize emotionally meaningful goals, at least as reflected in social preferences. Study 2 tested whether similar patterns emerged during the SARS epidemic.1 A year and a half after the September 11 attacks, between March and June 2003, a new form of pneumonia known as SARS spread rapidly to various parts of the world. Hong Kong was severely affected by the disease. One thousand seven hundred and fiftyfive cases of infection were reported, resulting in 296 deaths. To reduce the risk of infection, schools and preschools were shut down; industries such as tourism, retail and entertainment collapsed, and international trade was severely affected (Impact of the Outbreak, 2003). Hong Kong, the city that used to market itself as the city of life, had become a city of disease (Havely, 2003). Many expatriates and more welloff citizens fled the city; those who stayed became focused on prevention of the deadly disease, covering their faces with surgical masks (Bradsher, 2003; Loh & Welker, 2004). There was every reason to believe that under these circumstances, people came to view their futures as precarious. Indeed, empirical findings supported this claim. In the context of a 13week longitudinal study on personal and social goals, Cheung, Cheung, and Hui (2003) administered the Future Time Perspective Scale (Carstensen & Lang, 1996; as used in Fung et al., 2001) to a group of college students three times across the outbreak. They found that time perspective became increasingly limited during this period. According to socioemotional selectivity theory, such a perceived time limitation should lead to a prioritization of emotion1. Much of the rationale for the study rests on the assumption that age differences in social preferences were driven by time perspective. We did not include a measure of future time perspective in Phase 1 of the study (at the peak of SARS). But we included two items from the Future Time Perspective Scale (Carstensen & Lang, 1996) in Phase 2. As expected, people with more openended future time perspective were less likely to pick the familiar social partner, Wald 2(1, N = 351) = 5.012, p = .025, odds ratio = 0.768. Age and time perspective were moderately negatively correlated, r = .367, p < .001. After statistically controlling for time perspective, the age differences in social preferences were no longer significant, Wald 2(1, N = 352) = 3.128, ns, odds ratio = 0.910. These findings supported our assumption that age differences in social preferences were probably mediated by differences in time perspective. When other situations that presumably primed endingsin this case, the SARS epidemicmanaged to shift these age differences, we have greater confidence in arguing that it was time perspective, not age per se, that motivated individuals to prioritize the emotionally meaningful.

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ally meaningful goals, often reflected in preferences for emotionally close social partners. Anecdotal evidence suggested that this was the case. A resident who was quarantined with his family during a substantial period of the outbreak mentioned in a radio interview that ironically, the quarantine period provided his family with a valuable opportunity to take a break and to spend some quality time with one another (p. 134, From the Ground," 2003). Hong Kong seemed to share this sentiment broadly. A sense of community pride and gratitude was widespread in the community (Loh, 2004), right at the time when the challenges posed by SARS were the most severe. If the entire Hong Kong community emphasized emotionally meaningful goals in the face of SARS, both the young and the old should be equally likely to show preferences for emotionally close social partners, and the typical age differences in social preferences should disappear. From Study 1, we noted that four months after the September 11 attacks (January, 2002), the typical age differences in social preferences were evident in Hong Kong, with young adults less likely to prefer emotionally close social partners than did middleaged and older adults. If SARS shifted social preferences in the same ways as the September 11 attacks had done, we would expect these age differences in social preferences to disappear at the peak of the SARS outbreak (March, 2003), and to reappear when the SARS outbreak had subsided. Study 2 tested these predictions. In Study 2, we also tested other research questions: Were these shifts in social preferences positively associated with psychological wellbeing? And if so, was the association qualified by chronological age? Both theory and empirical findings suggest that focusing on emotionally meaningful goals should be better for the psychological wellbeing of older adults than for that of younger adults. Theoretically, when given a choice between pursuing emotionally meaningful goals and pursuing futureoriented goals, older adults who give higher priority to the former type of goals are doing what their limited future time perspective demands and thus should have higher psychological wellbeing. Conversely, for younger adults whose future is perceived to be long and largely openended, giving a higher priority to emotionally meaningful

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goals may not meet their needs and thus should be associated with lower psychological wellbeing. Empirically, studies that defined pursuing emotionally meaningful goals as having smaller social networks comprising a higher percentage of emotionally close social partners indeed found that doing so was positively associated with the psychological well being of older adults to a greater extent than that of younger adults. In a sample of German older adults, Lang and colleagues (Lang & Carstensen, 1994; Lang et al., 1998) reliably found that having smaller, but more emotionally close, social networks was positively related to feelings of social embeddednessa composite index of social satisfaction, tenderness, and the absence of loneliness. Lansford, Sherman, and Antonucci (1998) also found in three randomly selected, nationally representative American samples (ranging in age from 21 to over 90 years) that compared with younger adults, older adults had less frequent contact with their social network members but were more likely to be satisfied with their current number of friends and size of social networks. In addition, Fung, Carstensen and Lang (2001) found that among both African-Americans and EuropeanAmericans, the percentage of emotionally close social partners in networks was negatively related to levels of happiness among young adults, but such a negative relationship was not found among middleaged or older adults. Taken together, these findings suggest that pursuing emotionally meaningful goals, in terms of focusing on emotionally close social partners, may be positively or negatively associated with psychological wellbeing in a given situation, perhaps due to contextual factors not taken into account in the previous studies (see Isaacowitz, Smith, & Carstensen, 2003, for an example). However, when the association was moderated by age, the patterns of findings all pointed to the direction that, in a relative sense, focusing on emotionally meaningful goals was more positively associated with psychological wellbeing among older adults than among younger adults. A shortterm macrolevel time limitation, such as the SARS outbreak, poses an interesting case for testing these agespecific consequences of social selection on psychological wellbeing. During the outbreak, we expected both the young and the old to

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perceive future time as more limited and focus on emotionally meaningful goals, leading to an increase in preferences for emotionally close social partners. For older adults, this shift should not affect their psychological wellbeing or might even enhance it, as the shift was consistent with their usual goal hierarchies and social preferences. However, for younger adults, such a shift was not in keeping with their longterm futureoriented goals. Preferences for emotionally close social partners might be gratifying for them in the short run but ultimately did not satisfy their longterm needs. Their psychological wellbeing might eventually be lowered. In Study 2, we examined agerelated social preferences at the peak of SARS and their longitudinal relations with psychological wellbeing during the outbreak. We operationally defined better psychological wellbeing as a greater reduction of distress (fear, anger, shock and sadness) between the peak and the end of the outbreak. We expected that as the crisis subsided, both the young and the old would reduce their levels of distress. However, we predicted that among younger adults, those who preferred emotionally close to novel social partners at the peak of SARS would show this reduction of distress to a lesser extent than did those who continued to prefer novel social partners. Older adults, in contrast, would either not show these differences or show them in the opposite direction.

METHOD
PARTICIPANTS Study 2 consisted of two phases of data collection in Hong Kong. Phase 1 was conducted between March 27 and April 14, 2003, when the threat of SARS was the most acute in Hong Kong. Phase 2 was carried out between May 27 and June 1, 2003, when the SARS outbreak had subsided (The World Health Organization lifted the travel advisory on Hong Kong on May 23, 2003). Participants were recruited through the telephone sampling method described in Study 1. Among the 698 participants who participated in Phase 1, 370 agreed to take part in Phase 2. The response rate for Phase 1 was 64%, and that for Phase 2 was 53%. The mean lapse of time be-

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tween Phase 1 and Phase 2 was 60.67 days (SD = 7.34, range = 4079 days). Those who completed both phases of the study did not differ from those who completed Phase 1 alone on gender, perceived health or education level. Nineteen participants were later dropped from the sample because they provided inconsistent demographic information across the two phases of data collection. The final sample consisted of 351 participants. They were all Chinese residents living in Hong Kong, aged between 18 to 86 years, with 64% female. The average monthly income was HK$1000019999, average education level was secondary school (i.e., high school) graduation, and average perceived health was fair. Other than oversampling females, demographic characteristics were consistent with those of the sample in Study 1, and were representative of the general population in Hong Kong. MEASURES AND PROCEDURE Measures and procedure of the present study were identical to those of Study 1. In addition, a subsample of participants (N = 309) completed measures of distress in both phases of data collection. Participants rated their levels of shock," sadness," anger and worry in response to SARS on a 5point scale, ranging from 1 = no such emotion to 5 = the most intense feeling of the emotion. The order of presentation for these four items was randomized. A composite index of distress was created for each phase by taking the mean of the scores for the four items. Interitem reliability, as indexed by alpha, was .73 for Phase 1and .79 for Phase 2.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

To reveal age differences in social preferences at Phase 1, a logistic regression was conducted, regressing social preferences (1 = familiar social partner, 2 = novel social partners) on age (as a continuous variable). As expected, the age main effect was not significant, Wald 2(1, N = 351) = 3.012, ns, odds ratio = 0.890. At the peak of the SARS outbreak, the age groups were equally likely to show preferences for the familiar social partner. In contrast, a logistic regression in which social preferences were regressed on

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age at Phase 2 did reveal age differences. At this point, namely, when the SARS outbreak had subsided, younger people were less likely to pick the familiar social partner than did older people, Wald 2(1, N = 351) = 6.032, p = .014, odds ratio = 0.877. These results remained unchanged even after statistically controlling for gender, perceived health and socioeconomic status. To facilitate comparison between the results of this study and those of Study 1, we divided up the continuous age variable into three age groups: Young (aged 1835 years, n = 177), middleaged (aged 3655 years, n = 85) and older (aged 56 years or over, n = 89) and calculated the percentages of participants who selected the familiar social partner by age group and time period. At Phase 1, 81% of young adults, 75% of middleaged adults, and 83% of older adults selected the familiar social partners. At Phase 2, the corresponding percentages were 53%, 62%, and 62% respectively. We then added the information to Figure 1. In addition, we further explored the changes in social preferences across the two phases for each age group. All three age groups decreased their preferences for the familiar social partner across the two phases, but the successive age groups did so to a lesser extent. For the young group, among those who selected the familiar social partner at Phase 1, 50% selected a novel social partner instead at Phase 2, 2 for paired observations (see Glass & Hopkins, 1984) = 35.561, p < .001. The corresponding percentages were 45% for the middleaged group, 2 for paired observations = 29.878, p < .001, and 41% for the older group, 2 for paired observations = 25.920, p < .001. These findings suggest that the significant age differences in social preferences at Phase 2 were accounted for by the young groups greater shift of social preferences from the familiar to the novel social partners across the two phases. Taken together, findings once again confirmed that macrolevel events that presumably prime endings shifted social preferences. At the peak of SARS when the fragility and finitude of life were primed, younger people responded like their older counterparts, preferring emotionally close social partners to novel ones. Yet, when the SARS outbreak had subsided and perceived time was no longer limited, the typical age differences in social preferences reemerged.

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Next, we examined the consequences of these age differences in social preferences on psychological wellbeing. At Phase 1, the young, middleaged and older groups did not show any differences in distress, F(2, 306) = 0.995, MSE = 0.83, ns, 2 = .006. Mean levels of distress for young, middleaged and older participants were 3.23 (SD = 0.90), 3.24 (SD = 1.00) and 3.21 (SD = 1.05) respectively. Between the two phases of data collection, the sample as a whole reduced their levels of distress, t(308) = 7.254, p < .001 (M phase 1 = 3.21, SD phase 1 = .96; M phase 2 = 2.69, SD phase 2 = 1.05). We then tested whether age and social preference at Phase 1 predicted the reduction by conducting an ANCOVA with (1) Phase 2 distress as the dependent measure, (2) Phase 1 distress as covariate, and (3) age (young vs. middleaged vs. older), Phase 1 social preference, and their interaction as predictors. The age by social preference interaction was significant, F(2, 302) = 3.594, MSE = 1.01, p = .029, 2 = .023. To explore the nature of the interaction, we tested whether Phase 1 social preference predicted Phase 2 distress, after statistically controlling for Phase 1 distress, for each age group. While social preferences did not longitudinally predict Phase 2 distress for older participants, F(1, 77) = 2.735, MSE = 1.199, ns, 2 = .034, or middleaged participants , F(1, 90) = 0.330, MSE = 1.01, ns, 2 = .004, a preference for the familiar social partner was associated with more Phase 2 distress than was a preference for novel social partners among younger participants, F(1, 133) = 13.599, MSE = 0.95, p < .001, 2 = .093. Again, these results remained unchanged even after statistically controlling for gender, perceived health and socioeconomic status. To visually illustrate these age by social preference differences on the reduction of distress across the two phases, we subtracted distress at Phase 1 from distress at Phase 2 and plotted the resulting difference scores as a function of age and social preference at Phase 1 in Figure 2. A more negative value on the Yaxis indicates that the group recovered to a greater extent from their initial Phase 1 distress. As revealed in Figure 2, young participants who selected the novel social partners reduced their distress to a greater extent across the two phases (M = 0.91, SD = 1.11) than did their age peers who selected the familiar social partner (M = 0.50, SD = 1.24). Middleaged participants showed a similar but nonsignificant trend: those who selected the novel social part-

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FIGURE 2. Mean Difference in Distress between Phase 1 and Phase 2 by age group and social preference in Phase 1. Note. Error bars represent standard errors.

ners reduced their distress to a greater extent (M = 0.97, SD = 1.36) than did those who selected the familiar social partner (M = 0.39, SD = 1.29). In contrast, older participants showed a nonsignificant trend in the opposite direction, suggesting that those who selected the novel social partners reduced their distress to a lesser extent (M = 0.22, SD = 1.40) than did those who selected the familiar social partner (M = 0.73, SD = 1.21). The fact that significant differences were only found among young participants but not middleaged or older participants might be attributed to the larger sample size (and thus greater power) of the young age group. These findings suggest that a preference for emotionally close social partners is associated with better psychological wellbeingin this case, a greater reduction of distressamong older people than among younger people. If we just consider the statistically significant results, a preference for emotionally close social

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partners was negatively associated with the psychological wellbeing of young adults but not that of middleaged or older adults. If we consider the nonsignificant trends as well, the entire pattern of results revealed that while the association between such a preference and psychological wellbeing was negative among young and middleaged adults, it might be positive among older adults. In either case, in a relative sense, focusing on emotionally meaningful goals, as reflected in social preferences, does seem to be better for the psychological well being of older adults, who perceive future time as limited, than for that of younger adults, who have a long and openended future ahead of them.

GENERAL DISCUSSION
A central premise in social psychology is that situations can be objectively different in many ways, but to the extent that individuals perceive the same quality in the situations, they are likely to respond to them in a similar manner. In the two studies reported herein, we attempted to apply socioemotional selectivity theory to explain how Hong Kong Chinese shifted their social goals in response to the September 11 attacks on the United States (Study 1) and SARS in Hong Kong (Study 2). We also tested whether these shifts in social goals were differentially associated with psychological wellbeing among younger and older people (Study 2). CAN MACROLEVEL EVENTS SHIFT AGERELATED SOCIAL PREFERENCES? To test whether macrolevel events shift goals, as reflected in social preferences, we measured agerelated social preferences in the same population multiple times across the September 11 attacks on the United States and SARS in Hong Kongtwo macrolevel events that presumably primed endings. Before each of these events, Hong Kong Chinese showed the typical age differences in social preferences, with older people more likely to prefer emotionally close social partners to novel ones,

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compared with younger people. During each of these events, the age differences disappeared, with the majority of people in every age group showing preferences for emotionally close social partners. When the events had come to an end, the typical age differences in social preferences reemerged. This pattern of findings is consistent with what we observed around the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the Peoples Republic of China (Fung et al., 1999). It is also consistent with experimental evidences that manipulating time perspective shifted age differences in social preferences: Older peoples preference for emotionally close social partners could be eliminated by experimentally extending time perspective (Fung et al., 1999); conversely, preferences for emotionally close social partners could be induced in younger people by experimentally imposing a time limitation (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990). The striking similarity of findings across these naturalistic and experimental studies strongly suggests that the effects of aging, the 1997 handover, the September 11 attacks and SARS on social goals may all be attributable to the same cause: when there are cues in the environment to prime the finitude of life, people show preferences for relationships that are close and meaningful. HOW ARE THESE SHIFTS IN SOCIAL PREFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING AMONG DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS? In addition to examining goal shifts, we tested whether shifting social preferences was differentially associated with psychological wellbeing in younger and older people. Socioemotional selectivity theory argues that older people, who perceive future time as more limited, prioritize emotionally meaningful goals over futureoriented goals; in contrast, younger people, who perceive a long and usually ambiguous future ahead of them, do not do so. Given this, a shift in social preferences favoring emotionally close social partners over novel social partners is less likely to be consistent with the goal hierarchies of younger people, and

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thus more likely to lower their psychological wellbeing, than that of older people. Findings generally confirm this postulate. Study 2 found that, when the majority of people reduced their distress in the period between the peak and the end of SARS, young Hong Kong Chinese who preferred to interact with emotionally close social partners at the peak of SARS reduced their distress to a lesser extent than did their age peers who preferred novel social partners. Middleaged and older adults did not show these differences. This pattern of findings is generally consistent with that found in prior studies. A prior study of AfricanAmericans and EuropeanAmericans (Fung et al., 2001) found that the percentage of emotionally close social partners in social networks was negatively related to levels of happiness among young adults, but not among middleaged or older adults. Two other prior studies actually found a positive association between favoring emotionally close social partners and psychological wellbeing among older people. Lang and colleagues (Lang & Carstensen, 1994; Lang et al., 1998) found in a sample of older German adults that having smaller, but more emotionally close, social networks was positively related to feelings of social embeddednessa composite index of social satisfaction, tenderness, and the absence of loneliness. Directly comparing the young and the old, Lansford, Sherman, and Antonucci (1998) found in three American samples (ranging in age from 21 to over 90 years) that compared with younger adults, older adults had less frequent contact with their social network members but were more likely to be satisfied with their current number of friends and size of social networks. Taken together, these findings suggest that when the association between social preferences and psychological wellbeing is moderated by age, the results usually point toward a more positive outcome for older people than for younger people. Contextual factors such as the level of distress within the social networks (Isaacowitz et al., 2003) may make preferring emotionally close social partners more or less adaptive in a particular situation, but overall, in a relative sense, focusing on emotionally meaningful goals, at least as reflected in social preferences, is more positively associated with psychological wellbeing among the old than among the young.

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EXTENDING SOCIOEMOTIONAL SELECTIVITY FROM THE STUDY OF AGING TO THE STUDY OF GENERAL HUMAN BEHAVIOR Socioemotional selectivity theory was developed to address a paradox in aging: Genuine objective losses accompany aging, but psychological well-being does not decline (e.g., Charles, Reynolds, & Gatz, 2001; Diener & Suh, 1997; Herzog & Rodgers, 1981). Findings reviewed above suggest that the paradox may not be a paradox at all. Rather, time constraints lead to shifts in motivation that is positively associated with psychological wellbeing. Instead of spreading themselves thin by holding on to the large social networks that once served them well when they were younger, aging individuals reprioritize their goals and selectively construct a social world that maximizes emotional payoffs. This central tenet of the theory may help us to understand other paradoxes in the social psychological literature. For example, Lin and colleagues (2002) found that elderly survivors whose residences completely collapsed during the Chichi earthquake had a higher quality of life in social relationships after the earthquakes than before, while other elderly survivors reported the opposite. Interestingly, such effects only occurred in terms of quality in life in social relationships, not quality of life in physical capacity, psychological wellbeing or environment. Although there are many possible explanations, one explanation suggested by socioemotional selectivity theory is that the elderly survivors whose residences were completely destroyed might be the ones who were most affected by the earthquakes. Their future time horizons were limited, so they responded by prioritizing emotionally meaningful goals and constructed their social worlds in ways that maximized their quality of life in that area. Because such prioritization was selective, other aspects of quality of life were not affected. A number of theorists view selection as an adaptive part of human aging (e.g., Baltes, 1997). Socioemotional selectivity theory makes specific predictions about the type of selections and the consequences of those selections. Moreover, socioemotional selectivity theory highlights the concept of agency (Bandura, 1982) and applies it to areas that have traditionally been considered to be outside the individuals con-

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trol. Agency is defined as an individuals role in shaping his or her own environment. Aging is associated with many physical and sociological changes that exert negative influences on the individuals. Yet, aging individuals exercise agency and shape their environments in ways that fulfill the goals that they value most highly, namely emotionally meaningful goals. This concept may introduce a new perspective to the study of the impact of disasters. Disasters and other macrolevel crises are generally viewed as overwhelming to a degree that individuals are unable to act. Although this may be true at the moment of the crisis, individuals, as active shapers of their environments, may control the impact of the crisis on their own psychological well-being by many different social cognitive mechanisms, including, but not limited to, changing their goals. Another contribution of socioemotional selectivity theory lies in highlighting the importance of going beyond demographic variables per se to study the mechanisms that underlie responses to macrolevel events. This approach is consistent with the suggestions in the aging literature that age itself is not an explanatory variable (Wohlwill, 1970). Efforts to understand lifespan development would benefit from studying the motivational mechanisms that underlie the influence of age and specific life events on behaviors. The same argument can be made about the literatures of disaster psychology and social psychology. Research on impact of disasters have traditionally focused on demographic and sociological information such as age and gender of the victims, types of disasters, the level of development of the country where the disaster took place, and the level of exposure (Norris et al., 2002). Although many of these variables are important and have shown to be significant predictors of the impact, they may not be explanatory variables. There may be mechanisms underlying their observed influences on the impact, and it is both theoretically and empirically interesting to explore these mechanisms. Finally, as we examine social psychological phenomena from an adult development and aging perspective, and vice versa, we have the added benefit of revealing potential alternative theoretical mechanisms for common phenomena. For example, while socioemotional selectivity theory describes the influence of time

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perspective on social goals, terror management theory (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997; Rosenblatt, Greenberg, Soloman, Pyszczynski, & Lyon, 1989; Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2003), from a social psychological perspective, discusses the effects of mortality salience on social judgment and social behavior. Terror management theory argues that priming mortality salience heightens death anxiety and in order to reduce anxiety, people engage in social behaviors that affirm selfesteem and cultural worldviews. Because perceived time limitations, particularly those that involve life itself, may also increase mortality salience, one could argue that the two theories may be capturing different aspects of the same phenomenon. Fung and her colleagues are in the process of teasing apart the predictions of the two theories. So far, findings suggest that the effects of perceived time limitations on goals are independent of processes posited by terror management theory. Fung and Carstensen (2004) found that the effects of perceived time limitations on social goals remained significant even after statistically controlling for positive and negative affect. Fung, Siu, Choy, and McBrideChang (2005) found that time perspective, as measured by the Future Time Perspective Scale, significantly predicted how grandparents evaluated the meaning of their grandparenthood, even after statistically controlling for death anxiety as measured by the Fear of Personal Death Scale (Florian & Kravetz, 1983). More research is needed to further explicate the similarities and differences of the theories. Even though these theories may eventually be found to be addressing distinct phenomena, the general point still holds: Directly contrasting theories developed from different literatures can potentially reveal the underlying mechanisms of common phenomena and advance both fields. In summary, in this paper, we attempt to apply socioemotional selectivity theory to the study of the impact of macrolevel events that presumably prime endings. We report findings from two studies that examined the effects of the September 11 attacks and SARS, respectively, on social preferences. Findings suggest that macrolevel events that remind people of the finitude of life increase motivation to maximize emotional payoffs in social relationships in both the young and old, but the consequences of this shift on psychological wellbeing differ by age.

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