Changing Relationships in Late Adulthood

Paper Summary:

Late adulthood is often mistakenly viewed as a time of relaxation, where everything slows and an individual's life becomes more consistent and less stressful. In reality, late adulthood is a time of great change. Individuals retire, children move away, lifestyles alter significantly and social ties decline. This paper shows that, most significantly, a person's relationships change significantly in late adulthood. This includes relationships with siblings, spouses, friends, children and grandchildren. By considering these relationships and how they change, this paper shows that late adulthood is far from being a time of reduced stress. It may become a time of reduced stress if the individual makes the transition successfully, but the actual process of transition involves many significant changes.

From the Paper:

"Peterson (2002) notes that friends play a special role because they link the individual to the larger social world. Individuals meet with friends as a way of keeping up with events in the world and in their own communities. This allows individuals to feel connected and avoids the problem of feeling isolated, alone, or rejected. It is also noted that older individuals have more secondary friends, which are described as "people who are not intimates but with whom they spend time occasionally" (Berk 2004, p. 606). This includes groups meeting to take part in activities such as playing bridge, lawn bowling, quilting, and various other craft activities".

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