Development and Validation of Social Motivation Questionnaire

Abstract

Background and Objectives Information-seeking (IS) and emotion-regulatory (ER) motivation play meaningful roles in age-related changes in social interaction across adulthood. This study aimed to develop and validate the Social Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) to assess these two types of motivation. Research Design and Methods Ten items were selected from a pool as the candidate items of SMQ and were administered to 480 German adults (20–91 years old) for validation. These items were also administered to 150 U.S. (18–40 years old) and 131 Hong Kong younger adults (18 to 26 years old) for cultural-invariance examination. Results Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that a two-factor, eight-item structure fits the German adults’ data well with satisfactory reliability. Multigroup comparisons showed cross-age invariance among younger, middle-aged, and older German adults, as well as cross-cultural invariance among German, U.S., and Hong Kong younger adults. Discussion and Implications A new questionnaire, SMQ, was developed and validated to measure IS and ER social motivation across adulthood and across cultures.

Helping Behavior of Older Adults during the Early COVID-19 Lockdown in Belgium

“…The enhancement motive seems to be less prevalent among the oldest age group than among other age groups. Building further on Gong et al (2019) and Yamashita et al (2019) , a shift in priorities in which adults prioritize present-oriented motives despite their age, such as pursuing emotional meaning and fulfilment when the future time perspective is limited and circumscribed, may help explain the enhancement motives underlying helping behavior during the pandemic. In their decision to provide help, compared to their older peers younger age groups were plausibly also driven to give meaning to their lives from enhancement motives, such as increasing self-esteem and working toward self-development.…”

“…Building further on Gong et al (2019) and Yamashita et al (2019), a shift in priorities related to future-oriented (social interactions that are valued by one’s social group) or present-oriented motives (being focused on family care) may contribute to understanding the motives for helping behavior. A question is whether this pandemic may have altered motivational factors across age groups.…”

Sosyal Moti̇vasyon Anketi̇’ni̇n Türkçeye Uyarlama Çalişmasi

“…In previous studies; compared to younger individuals, older individuals have been shown to be more selective in shaping their social environment (6), interact more with individuals they feel emotionally close to (7), and maintain their interaction with a core close environment for long periods of time (8). At the same time, compared to younger individuals, older individuals experience better quality social relationships (9) and face fewer problems in their relationships (5).…”

“…The importance of these social motivations on the individual can be affected by factors such as gender, personality, society and family structure. One of these factors is the age of the individual (5).…”

“…However, as people get older and their expectations about the future decrease, their social circles consist of people with whom they are emotionally attached. Individuals who think that they are approaching the end of life leave their success goals behind and want to be with people in their close circles who add meaning to their lives (5).…”