Do you prefer meeting lots of new people, or spending time with a small circle of close friends? You may think the answer depends on whether you're naturally more of an extrovert or an introvert. But there's another crucial yet little-known factor that shapes our social preferences: age.

你更喜欢结识很多新朋友，还是更喜欢和少数亲密的朋友相处呢？你可能认为这个答案取决于你是天生外向还是内向。但还有另外一个非常重要却鲜为人知的因素在影响着我们的社交偏好：年龄。

In later life, friendships can become an especially important source of happiness and life satisfaction. Frequent interactions with a close friend may in fact boost happiness in old age more than those with close family.

在晚年生活中，友谊会成为幸福感和生活满足感的一个非常重要的来源。事实上，与亲密好友的频繁互动可能比与近亲互动更能提升老年人的幸福感。

One simple explanation for this is that friendships can be more fun, and less tense and fraught, than other relationships. According to a study of Americans aged over 65, encounters with friends were seen as more pleasant than those with family members. These findings contrast with older studies that focus more on close family as the key source of support for ageing adults.

对此一个简单的解释是，与其他关系相比，友谊会更加有趣，也没那么紧张和令人烦恼。一项针对 65 岁以上美国人的研究显示，与朋友接触被认为比与家人接触更愉快。这些发现与之前的研究形成了对比，之前的研究更多地关注了近亲作为老年人的主要支持来源。

Compared to young people, there is however one important difference in how older people choose and maintain their friendships. While young people tend to actively look for new contacts, older people deliberately shrink their social networks, says Katherine Fiori, a professor of psychology at Adelphi University, New York.

然而，与年轻人相比，老年人在选择和维系友谊的方式上有一个重要的不同之处。纽约阿德菲大学的心理学教授凯瑟琳・菲奥里表示，年轻人往往会积极寻找新的交往对象，而老年人则会刻意缩小自己的社交圈。

This is also known as the socio-emotional selectivity theory. Younger adults see their future as expansive and focus on building new connections. Older adults prioritise spending time with people who know them well, and therefore whittle their connections down.

这也被称为社会情绪选择理论。年轻人认为自己的未来充满可能，因而注重建立新的人际关系。老年人则优先选择与熟悉自己的人共度时光，因此会缩小自己的社交圈。

One advantage of cultivating a smaller circle is that the remaining, carefully chosen ties tend to be high-quality.

维系一个较小社交圈子的一个好处在于，留下的经过精心挑选的关系往往质量很高。

"As people age, their perspective on the future changes — they have less time to live, essentially, " Fiori says. "Their priorities shift, and they tend to be focused on socio-emotional goals."

“随着年龄的增长，人们对未来的看法会发生变化——本质上来说，他们剩下的时间更有限了，”菲奥里说，“他们生活的优先级会发生改变，并且往往更专注于社会情绪目标。”