“Blood Like Wine; it Rages in Youth, it Ripens with Age:” An Empirical Study of Age and Interpersonal Arguing in Poland

This study surveys orientations toward interpersonal arguing in Poland, using subsamples of younger (mean age = 21.4 years, n = 208) and older (mean age = 70 years, n = 170) respondents. The primary aim of the study was to compare the two subsamples, and a substantial number of age effects were found. Previous work in other nations indicates generally that as people grow older, they become less eager to argue. However, some results suggest that when older people do argue, they may be rather forceful, especially when the argument seems to have relevance to the older arguer’s status. We found that older Poles were more careful, more peaceful and less worried in interpersonal arguing when compared to younger ones. Older adults showed less interest in arguing for the specific sorts of goals we measured: to show dominance, to display one’s identity, to play, and to blurt out one’s thoughts. Younger Poles showed more emotional activity during disagreements: they personalized conflicts to a greater degree, perceived themselves to be more persecuted by people who disagreed with them, and experienced more stress. We also found differences between men and women, and discovered that some of these were moderated by age. Power distance was influential in both subsamples, but had stronger effects for the older group. Discussion focuses on finding patterns to the age differences, comparing them to earlier work, and integrating them with socio-emotional selectivity theory.