Older Widows and Married Women: Their Intimates and Confidants

Babchuk, Nicholas; Anderson, Trudy B.

doi:10.2190/npea-2j32-5cv3-rug7

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This is not to say that certain hyper-masculine behaviors did not associate women with lesbianism (Griffin 1998;Worthen 2014), but that women were given more leeway for emotional expression than men. This freedom of expression is more closely associated with young women, as research has shown a decline in the closeness between women who are married (Babchuk and Anderson 1989). Indeed, powerful patriarchal forces have sought to limit the closeness of adult female friendships, as they pose a threat to the strength of male alliances and patriarchal rule (Sedgwick 2015).…”

Section: The Influence Of Homohysteria On Homosocialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Privileging the Bromance: A Critical Appraisal of Romantic and Bromantic Relationships

Robinson

White

Anderson

2017

Men and Masculinities

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In this research, utilising data from 30 semi-structured interviews, we examine how heterosexual undergraduate men compare their experiences of bromances to that of their romantic relationships (romances). We find that the increasingly intimate, emotive and trusting nature of bromances offers young men a new social space for emotional disclosure, outside of traditional heterosexual relationships. Participants state that the lack of boundaries and judgement in a bromance is expressed as emotionally rivalling the benefits of a heterosexual romance. Our participants mostly determined that a bromance offered them elevated emotional stability, enhanced emotional disclosure, social fulfilment, and better conflict resolution, compared to the emotional lives they shared with girlfriends. Thus, this research provides an empirically grounded conceptual framework for understanding men's view of close homosocial relationships in comparison to their romantic relationship in the 21 st century.

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Section: The Influence Of Homohysteria On Homosocialitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Privileging the Bromance: A Critical Appraisal of Romantic and Bromantic Relationships

Robinson

White

Anderson

2017

Men and Masculinities

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“…Not only during childhood, but throughout the life span, reciprocity is a central characteristic of friendships (Patterson & Bettini, 1993). For example, individuals with disabilities attempt to maintain reciprocal supportive relationships (Antonucci & Jackson, 1990), working-class women have friendships that are very reciprocal with respect to goods and services (Walker, 1995), and the relationships between older women and their confidants are characterized by norms of reciprocity (Babchuk & Anderson, 1989) as well as by actual reciprocity in the exchange of various resources (Blieszner, 1993). Reciprocity may be particularly important when it concerns the giving and receiving of support.…”

Section: Reciprocity and Loneliness In Friendshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness, exchange orientation, and reciprocity in friendships

Buunk

Prins

1998

Personal Relationships

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Guided by equity theory, this study among 185 Dutch students explored the effects of exchange orientation and reciprocity in the relationship with the best friend upon loneliness. Reciprocity was in general more common in this relationship than feeling advantaged or deprived. The association between reciprocity and loneliness was as predicted on the basis of equity theory: Those feeling deprived as well as those feeling advantaged in the relationship with the best friend reported much more loneliness than those perceiving reciprocity in terms of giving and receiving help. The association between reciprocity and loneliness was especially pronounced among those high in overbenefitting exchange orientation, but not among those high in underbenefitting exchange orientation. However, more loneliness was found among those high in underbenefitting exchange orientation, independent of the degree of reciprocity in the relationship with the best friend. The effects of lack of reciprocity and exchange orientation upon loneliness remained the same when self‐esteem was included as a covariate.

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“…In a nursing home, greater lucidity and better vision and speech are associated with having more friends (Retsinas & Garrity, 1985). Among community-dwelling older adults, elderly women have more friends than do elderly men (Fischer & Oliker, 1983), women in age-segregated housing have more friends than do those living elsewhere (Adams, 1983), employed women have more friends than do other older women (Babchuk & Anderson, 1989), and participants in social activities have more friends than do nonparticipants (Spakes, 1979). Older widows have fewer friends than younger ones, but the number of married women's friends does not differ by age (Babchuk & Anderson, 1989).…”

Section: Dimensions Of Personal Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging Well With Friends and Family

Adams

Blieszner

1995

American Behavioral Scientist

183

119

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Aging encourages people to enhance their friend and family relationships. In general, the elderly tend to have more heterogeneity in relationships as they grow older. They depend on these relationships for instrumental, financial and emotional support. As a result, older adults who have many friends and have close ties with their families are more socially and psychologically well-adjusted than those who are alienated from their networks. Article: An assumption runs throughout the gerontological literature that having friends and active relationships with family members is better than not having them. Since the 1960s, when social gerontologists began debating the relative merits of the disengagement and activity theories, researchers have used the number of friends, the existence of active family relationships, and the amount of contact older adults have with these presumed intimates as indicators of aging well. Recently, however, researchers have recognized that not all personal relationships are good ones and not all social interactions affect older adults positively (e.g., Rook, 1984, 1989). In considering the connection between personal relationships and aging well, it is thus necessary to deconstruct friendship and kin relationships, to examine their myriad dimensions, and to recognize that merely having relationships is not an indication that someone is aging well. The tendency of researchers to assume that all personal relationships are positive is not the only limitation characteristic of the investigations on this topic. In both the family and friendship literatures, samples are often less than adequate, either being representative of very specific subpopulations of older adults or not being representative of any population at all (i.e., snowball, volunteer, or other nonprobability samples). Personal relationship researchers tend to study single respondents rather than pairs of friends or family members. When they do investigate dyads, they often study them in isolation rather than considering them in the context of the family or friendship network. Both literatures are also primarily descriptive rather than theoretically motivated, and, consequently, what is known about relationships is little more than a list of findings of all studies. Each of these personal relationship literatures has additional limitations. For example, researchers have rarely studied friendships longitudinally, making it impossible to examine changes in friendship as people age and to separate out age, period, and cohort effects. Gerontological friendship researchers usually study single-race (almost always Caucasian) or single-sex (usually female) populations; when they do include more than one race or both

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Older Widows and Married Women: Their Intimates and Confidants

Cited by 16 publications

References 19 publications

Privileging the Bromance: A Critical Appraisal of Romantic and Bromantic Relationships

Privileging the Bromance: A Critical Appraisal of Romantic and Bromantic Relationships

Loneliness, exchange orientation, and reciprocity in friendships

Aging Well With Friends and Family

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