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Residential mobility increases motivation to expand social network: But why?

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Abstract

We conducted two studies to explore psychological consequences of a mobile lifestyle. In Study 1, we found that participants who were randomly assigned to think about a mobile lifestyle used more loneliness and sadness-related words and anticipated having fewer friends in the future than those who thought about a stable lifestyle (or a typical day as a control). In Study 2, we replicated this finding with a non-college sample. In addition, we found that those in the mobility condition reported being more motivated to expand their social network. Finally, the effect of mobility on the motivation to expand social networks was mediated by anticipated loneliness and sadness.

Highlights

► A mobile lifestyle caused individuals to feel more loneliness. ► A mobile life style made individuals to anticipate fewer friends in the future. ► A mobile lifestyle motivated people to expand their social network. ► This link was explained by anticipated loneliness and sadness.

Introduction

Americans seem to value having a lot of friends. In 1831, French scholar Alexis de Tocqueville traveled around most of the U.S. territories. He was amazed by how freely Americans talked to strangers, helped strangers, and made new friends (Tocqueville, 1835/2003). Modern research has supported Tocqueville's observation: Americans tend to have larger social networks than people from other nations (e.g., Adams & Plaut, 2003). In two studies, we examined why Americans might prefer larger social networks.

Section snippets

Why do Americans prefer large social networks?

There are at least two reasons why Americans might prefer having many more friends: functional and psychological. Both mechanisms most likely derive from the fact that Americans have been very mobile historically (Tocqueville, 1835/2003, Van Minnen and Hilton, 2002). For example, in 1960 one-year residential mobility rate was 20.9% for American males and 20.3% for American females, whereas it was 12% for British males, 11.6% for British females, 11.2% for Scottish males, 10.8% for Scottish

The present research

We conducted 2 studies to examine (a) whether imagining a mobile lifestyle would evoke stress, anxiety, and loneliness and sadness (henceforth referred to as loneliness–sadness), and make people anticipate having fewer friends in the future, and (b) whether imagining a mobile lifestyle would motivate people to expand their social networks, and whether this link could be explained by the psychological mechanism (stress, anxiety, and loneliness–sadness evoked by a mobile lifestyle) and/or the

Study 1: residential mobility and shrunken future social networks

In Study 1, we tested the initial hypothesis that the thought of a mobile lifestyle would make people think that they will have a smaller social network in the future. We predicted this because people typically lose some of the old friends when they move to a new city (Shklovski, 2007). In addition, we tested another hypothesis based on the psychology of residential mobility that the thought of a mobile lifestyle evokes anxiety, loneliness–sadness, and stress.

Study 2: residential mobility and motivation to expand social networks: the mediating role of loneliness–sadness

We conducted Study 2 with three goals in mind. The first goal was to test the hypothesized process in its entirety; that is, the thought of a mobile lifestyle evokes loneliness–sadness and makes movers anticipate losing some friends, which in turn motivate them to expand their social network.

The second goal was to add a pure stability condition. Both mobility and stability mindset manipulations in Study 1 involved at least one initial move (move to a new city for a new ideal job and stay there

General discussion

In two studies, we found that participants who were led to think about a mobile lifestyle anticipated feeling lonely and sad, and having smaller social networks in the future, compared to those who thought about a stable lifestyle or a typical day (Study 1); and participants who were led to think about a mobile lifestyle were more motivated to expand their social network than those who were led to think about a stable lifestyle or a typical day (Study 2). We were able to replicate the findings

Conclusion

Humans are, by nature, social (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Our greatest strength may be our ability to form alliances and friendship networks beyond kin relationships (Berscheid, 2003, Caporael, 2001). Although the evolutionary importance of interpersonal relationships can never be overstated, it is also important to recognize that the specific social network strategies that people use have changed over time and across societies (Florida, 2002, Nisbet, 1966, Reisman et al., 1961/2001, Tönnies,

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Roseae Pak and Jueyu Wu for coding Study 1 materials. We also thank Casey Eggleston, Minha Lee, Brandon Ng, Nikki Yung, Marguerite Beattie, and Mika Nomura for their comments on an earlier version of our paper.

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