THE ROLE OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE STRUCTURE OF LIFE SATISFACTION IN MIDDLE-AGED ADULTS

Murashkina Elena Alekseevna

Object: To assess the role of interpersonal communication in the structure of life satisfaction in middle-aged adults using an integral index of interpersonal communication difficulties, and to clarify its association with social-evaluative variables. Methods: The sample included 177 adult respondents (analytical sample after data quality control). Interpersonal communication was assessed with the Interpersonal Relations Questionnaire (OMO) in its Russian adaptation [6]. Life satisfaction was measured with the SWLS (Russian version with published psychometric evidence) [3; 5] (original scale: [9]). SADS and BFNE were also applied based on Russian validation/approbation studies [1; 4]. The OMO score was computed as the mean across items. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlations were applied. Findings: The mean OMO score was 2.55 (SD=0.76; Min=1.04; Median=2.56; Max=4.33; N=177). Interpersonal communication difficulties were negatively associated with life satisfaction (OMO×SWLS: ρ=–0.35; p<0.001; N=177). OMO was strongly related to social anxiety (OMO×SADS: ρ=0.83; p<0.001; N=177) and fear of negative evaluation (OMO×BFNE: ρ=0.70; p<0.001; N=177). Conclusions: Interpersonal communication occupies a statistically meaningful place in the structure of life satisfaction in middle-aged adults: greater interpersonal difficulties are linked to lower life satisfaction and higher social-evaluative vulnerability. No causal claims are made due to the cross-sectional design.

Keywords:interpersonal communication, life satisfaction, middle adulthood, social anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, structure of life satisfaction, OMO, SWLS.