AGES2013: Exploring Roles, Relationships & Friendship in Later Life

This presentation, prepared for a conference, explores the critical role of friendship in later life, drawing on research and analysis of the AGES2013 topic on Roles, Relationships, and Networks. It highlights the enduring nature of friendships across the lifespan and their significant impact on emotional, social, and physical well-being, particularly in mitigating loneliness and promoting healthy aging. The presentation covers various aspects, including the supportive nature of friendships, their role in times of crisis, and their contribution to psychological well-being. It also addresses challenges such as loneliness and social isolation, especially among older adults, and discusses the evolving patterns of family structures and their implications. The presentation emphasizes the importance of maintaining social connections, engaging in joyful activities, and fostering a supportive community to enhance the quality of life in later years, while also addressing the impact of stresses, losses, and health issues on seniors. It concludes by underscoring the benefits of friendship in adapting to life changes, promoting mental well-being, and fostering a sense of belonging, highlighting how friendships contribute to a more satisfying and fulfilling experience in the later stages of life. The content includes research from various authors and journals like Journal of Aging and Society, Journal of Advances in Life Course Research, and Journal of Financial Economics.

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Slide 2
Friendship in later life is known as the relationship which endures across the life span.
Friendship in later life is supportive as design the social interventions at high level. This serves
an important role to sustain the social connectedness in later life while other relationship may
become unapproachable. The friendship in later life has the positive impact on the emotional,
social, and physical wellbeing. The strong group of friends is a good boost for the aging hearts
and helpful to body autoimmune system which resists disease. The individual that have one or
more friends in later life are in better health compare to those people who have the casual friends
and no friends in later life. Friendship in later life boosts the individuals in retirement, physical
change, and financial losses. Friendship in later life is supportive as the member of family. Many
individuals turn to friends in later while they encounter the crisis (theft) due to the distance of
family members. It has been founded that one women in three women and one men in seven men
aged with the 65 or more lives alone within the later life. It has been also founded that men
usually have the hard time period dealing with the widowhood compare to women in later life. In
research it has been also analyzed that more than two third men not have the close friends and
more than sixteen percent of widows have no friends. In later life people that have good friends
reach out them and enjoy the memorable championships, support, and built the new human
contracts (Johnson & Vires, 2002).
Slide 3
Friendship is known as the important part of social life with the close relationship.
Friendship in later life is important effective as families’ ties within the predicting psychological
well-being within the old age and adulthood. Friendship in later life is supportive to relieve the
depression and stress. Friendship in later life gives the emotional support as friends are enough
comfortable to support, share and inform things each other. In addition to the emotional support,
friendship in later life is supportive to enrich the individual’s social mental, physical health, and
adjust to the changes by the thoughts and exercise. Friendship in later life is also supportive to
reach beyond the more psychological well-being. Relational closeness with the appropriate social
support is also maintained by friendship in later through the cognitive functioning. Rehabilitation
is appropriate enough to provide the independence at high level. Affection with the friendship in

ROLES, RELATIONSHIPS, & FRIENDSHIP
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later life built the close relationship and endures the positive effects on the well-being within the
old age.
Slide 4
In adulthood and old age people feels the loneliness and socially isolated. Every third
person in one feels the loneliness due to the death of partners because of the particular concerns
life depression, anxiety, obesity and heart conditions. In today’s time members within the
families goes outside the home due to the further studies, businesses, and jobs. The home
becomes the very typical and hazard concerns for the adulthood. The people are shifting for the
high morality/fertility society to the low morality/fertility society due to the increased number of
the living generations and minimized within number of living folks in the houses. The number of
people which lives alone within the Australia has the age of 65-74 that risen slightly and
individuals with the age 75 and over living alone. This kind of kind of results also shows that
presage increase within the number of older persons live alone within the years to come. Number
of divorces has increased in the Australia and remained at high level. This kind of issues has
risen by the 73 percent between the 1991 and 2011. Families have become smaller in the number
of family members. This has been also noted that women with the age of 45 have the average
family size of 1.91 while their generations of the mother had the average size of 2.36 at the
similar age. The number of women has been also increased that not have children. Around first
women in 5 has no children. This kind of issue of may be described by the decline in the women
getting married, high social acceptability of the childfree lifestyle, and delaying to have the
children until the biologically too late.
Slide 5
Stresses and losses are known as the biggest culprits of the depression within the aging
people. Losses can be manageable by the individuals that are grieving; however, while it
combined with the other losses, it will be too much to handle. Individuals that tend to abuse the
alcohol, prescription, and nonprescription drugs are the susceptible to the depression in the later
life. The added people that realized the physical illness tend to become the depressed and it
increases the changes of the chronic depression. The medical diseases can brought the chronic
depressions which are Parkinson’s disease and many other forms of the cancer. Aging people

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experiences the helplessness sense due to the retirement, limitations of the income and new
arrangement or shifting in new places (Julie, 2015).
Slide 6
Patterns of the families are not similar within the all parts of Australia. There is almost
8.4 percent of people are not living as couple and facing the separation, legal divorces and the
civil partnership dissolution. Even senior people that are within the fantastic shapes have the
high level of risk. People faces the health issues like break bones as get older as the calcium
becomes the harder to absorb within the body. The quality of the eyesight decreases as find the
difficulty to maintain the independences and drive. This is also become very difficult to walk.
Every individual within the old age required the some extra help within the home to maintain the
lifestyle as grow older. These should take the proactive efforts to maintain the friendship in the
later life. Even Facebook and the conversion conversations, video, and texting are not similar as
the face to face conversations. Many problems regarding health associated that makes the feeling
of sadness and aloneness more profound. Individuals which have the trusted friends in later life
help to live life so naturally and provide the feeling of comfortless. These has been analyzed that
more than 87 percent seniors happy to stay within the friendship in later life.
Slide 7
The friendship in later life has the effective advantage to engage the joyful activities and
living within the supportive community. This help to mitigate the risk and cost effective for
relocate and assisted to live in the community which is designed to accommodate as the
requirement in the adulthood. Friendship in later life includes the discontinuities and continuities
by the earlier pattern regarding the individuals and social cohorts. Though susceptible to
pervasive the social conditions and cultural patterning, friendship in later life is crucial
interactive achievements that remains the highly contingent within the friend’s ongoing
expectations, emotional requirements, and initiatives that encompass the personal networks and
developed over course of lifetimes. Friendship in later life is continuously important for the high
privileged status and alignments with the good relations (Suttles, 2017).
Slide 8

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This is very normal for the adulthoods the feel the less energetic. Friendship in later life
is helpful to spend and enjoy the every waking moment of day within the seclusion. These have
the options to boot the life through the healthy diet, getting the plenty of quality rest by spending
the enough time with them. If the tiredness persists than a trip to the doctor is a supplement to
boost the levels of energy of friend. The aging brings the many changes within the body and
appearances but adulthood not have to feel the self-conscious as the result due to the support of
friendship in later life. Adulthoods by visiting to the saloon or self-care rituals with the friends
feels more attractive. This is very common for the seniors to confuse about the Justine Bieber
and the Kardashians. It is very effective for the seniors to have the feeling of involve in learning
of pop culture and spend time with the friends by remembering the old things. Individuals that
have no interest in pop culture become more capable to take the interest in the themed parties
(Gompers, Mukharlyamov, & Xuan, 2016).
Slide 9
The seniors with the good relations of friendship in later life become more capable to
understand that every stage in life is beautiful and there are also many things to love about the
adulthood. Many seniors face the difficulty to accept the realities of moving harder within the
next phase. Friendship in later life makes the entire processes of life very easy to enjoy. Lots of
adulthood sometime displays the suspicious behavior as become paranoid. Adulthood finds the
very difficulties to take the advantages of opportunities in life. People also face the difficulty to
stubborn in adulthood. The selective memory is also a symptom and some of them hold the
distorted view on the reality. Friendship in later life helps to display and create the trust on
people by a good view (Hojjat, Moyer, & Halpin, 2017).
Slide 10
The friendship in later life is helpful to process and adjust the regular changes more
effectively. For many people after job retirement is very positive and for many others it is very
negative. While many other adjust the retirement very well and many others find very
difficulties. Many people in retirement face the experiences of death of the spouse or member of
family that also brings the feelings of sadness and loneliness. Friendships in later life help them
to engage in attractive activities like playing games, visiting, and live a more satisfying life.

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Moving to a new home is a chore at any age. However, it is increasingly difficult for someone
who is aged. In some cases, aging people may have to leave their homes and moved to a small
house where they are supervised and taken care off. Friendship in later life provides the balance
with the positive thoughts. These changes in aging people can often bring on positive feelings
and emotions with the friendship in later life (Jerrome, 2008).
Slide 11
In the limelight of the discussion it can be concluded that friendship in the later life bring
the mental well-being, emotional support, protective factor, societal interaction with the
individuals. Friendship in the later life is the relationships which can be endure in
entire life span, serving the important role for supporting the social connectedness in the later
life when other relationships, like coworkers and organization associates, may be relinquished.
Striking about friendship in later life are the continuities in its significance for personal well-
being, its conditional yet protected and privileged status, and the gender alignments in its
practices--all persisting in juxtaposition to the sometimes dramatic changes in its circumstances
(Roberto & Kimboko, 1989).

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Bibliography
Gompers, P. A., Mukharlyamov, V., & Xuan, Y. (2016). The cost of friendship. Journal of
Financial Economics, 119(3), 626-644.
Jerrome, D. (2008). The Significance of Friendship. Journal of Aging and Society, 175-197.
Johnson, C., & Vires, D. (2002). The Death of Friend in Later Life. Journal of Advances in Life
Course Research, 07(01), 299-324.
Julie, B. (2015, 10 22). Frindship Changes in Adutlhood. Retrieved from Theatlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/how-friendships-change-over-time-
in-adulthood/411466/
Rawlins, W. (2017). Friendship matters. Routledge.
Roberto, K. A., & Kimboko, P. J. (1989, 02 14). Friendships in later life. Retrieved from ncbi:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2707897
Suttles, G. D. (2017). Friendship as a social institution. In Friendship as a Social Institution (pp.
95-135). Routledge.