Confidants and Companions: Choices in Later Life

Abstract

This study examines and compares the correlates of considering each of the following as a confidant or a companion: spouse, children, siblings, other relatives, friends. Using a Canadian sample of 400 respondents aged 65 and over, we found evidence of substitution among the previously married and childless; more extensive ties to children and more intimate ties to friends among women; the importance of geographic proximity to children for confiding and companionship, and to siblings for confiding; the relevance of family size to confiding in siblings; and the precariousness of friendship as one reaches very old age. Predictors of who serve as confidants and as companions are similar, but important differences emerge. We compared our results to those of studies in Australia and the United States and to an earlier analysis of network composition and concluded that the confiding and companionate relations of older persons are best understood by combining the results of relationship-specific and network composition analyses.

The relationships among family and social interaction, loneliness, mall shopping motivation, and mall spending of older consumers

“…The result that older consumers tend to feel lonely and depressed when they have less social interaction supports the findings of the previous studies (Connidis & Davies, 1992;Wood & Robertson, 1978) that a main predictor of well-being among the elderly is the strength of friendship ties rather than family ties. It seems clear that shopping malls play a critical role in providing a potential avenue for alleviating loneliness.…”

Gaps in social support resources in later life: An adaptational challenge in need of further research

“…Evidence suggests that older adults do turn to substitute sources of support following the loss of a major social relationship, such as a spouse (Connidis & Davies, 1992; Lamme et al, 1996). For example, all three forms of social network substitution discussed above were documented in a study of the support resources of older widowed women, with the duration of widowhood influencing the particular kind of substitution that occurred (Zettel & Rook, 2004).…”

Promoting Older Women's Health and Well-Being Through Social Leisure Environments: What We Have Learned from the Red Hat Society®

“…The ability to recover from the loss of a partner (i.e., a stressor) may also be a beneficial outcome of a supportive social network (Connidis & Davis, 1992). Rook, Sorkin and Zettel (2004) have suggested that psychological well-being may be tied to the extent to which the substitute relationship in a social network compensates for the loss of a loved one.…”