Older people are better at picking their battles, studies show
[12 May 2005 - EurekAlert - University of Michigan] Older people are less likely than younger people to react aggressively when problems come up in their relationships, University of Michigan research shows. "Older people appear better able than younger people to pick their battles," said Kira Birditt, a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), the world's largest academic survey and research organization. "When they're upset with others, older people are more likely to do nothing or to wait and see if things improve. Younger people, on the other hand, are more likely to argue and yell." One of Birditt's studies, funded by the National Institutes on Aging, appears in the current (May 2005) issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. As part of a larger study of interpersonal problems in adulthood, Birditt and colleague Karen Fingerman of Purdue University interviewed 187 men and women ages 13 to 99. Participants described the last upsetting situation they had encountered with their closest, and with their most problematic social partners. Then the interviewers asked them, "Think back to a recent time when you were irritated, hurt, or annoyed with (that person). Can you tell me a little about what happened, why you were upset and what you did about this situation?" Younger people were more likely to shout, argue or walk away in response to problems while older people were more likely to do nothing. Older people reported less frequent contact with their social partners and less distress when confronted with interpersonal problems. Even after the researchers controlled for frequency of contact and distress levels, the age differences in reactions to conflict remained. ...