Not “The More The Merrier”: Diminishing Returns to Daily Face-To-Face Social Interaction Frequency for Well-Being in Older Age

Abstract

Our findings suggest the benefits of social interactions on well-being exhibit diminishing returns. Social interactions may play a bigger role in older adults with less satiation for desire to belong and a limited future time perspective. We discuss these findings in terms of the belongingness hypothesis and the socioemotional selectivity theory.