An investigation of late-life friendship networks, friendship network change and subjective wellbeing.

Abstract

Increasingly large proportions of the British population are living in later life (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2021a) and demographic and social/cultural trends are changing what it means to grow older in contemporary Britain (Carr and Utz, 2020). Whilst increasing numbers of older adults navigate these new forms of later life, the COVID-19 pandemic has also generated a renewed interest in the impact of social isolation on wellbeing. Despite social isolation being experienced by individuals of all ages (Barreto et al., 2021) the later part of the life course, for many, brings with it unique challenges for the creation and maintenance of positive social relationships. This thesis adds to these debates by providing an examination of one type of social connection in contemporary Britain, friendship. The thesis explores, the impact of friendship on the wellbeing of older adults, the nature of friendship changes in later life, and the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on late life friendships.

The thesis is divided into three separate research studies. The first study uses cross-sectional binary logistic regression analysis of data in the UKHLS, to examine the relationship between older adult’s friendship networks and their wellbeing (life satisfaction) based on their household composition, their family networks and community group participation. The second study explores the impact of a transition into friendlessness on wellbeing (life satisfaction) using longitudinal data in the same survey. The third study builds on the findings in the prior studies using data from twenty, remote 1:1, interviews collected at the outset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. This data is used to explore how older adults understand and manage their changing friendship networks during the first ‘lock-down’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The presence of a friendship network is found to increase the odds of high wellbeing among older adults (+60) to a greater degree than the impact of family or community group participation. For individuals who do not live with a partner or live alone, friendships hold even greater importance and fulfil specific protective functions for wellbeing. Larger friendship networks are found to increase one’s odds of high wellbeing more so than smaller friendship networks (Walen and Lachman, 2000) and the thesis results suggest that beyond this, it is the act of gaining one’s first friend has the greatest wellbeing impact. Friendships that have been held for a long time and hold high levels of reciprocity offer additional wellbeing benefits. Different types of friends are found to have different wellbeing benefits and to be resilient to different social network shocks suggesting the importance of the development of diverse friendship networks. Friendships are also found to offer benefits for the maintenance of social relationships, they can replace the loss of familial relationships and foster conflict resolution among romantic and familial ties. In conclusion, late life friendships can deliver a unique and important wellbeing benefit for older adults. As wider demographic, technological and cultural forces change late life social networks, it is important that academics and policy makers continue to focus on the role of friendship within these. The critical role that friendship play in the production of high wellbeing for older adults justifies the prioritisation of interventions to reduce the loss of friendships within wider social isolation or loneliness policies and interventions.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Athina Vlachantoni: orcid.org/0000-0003-1539-3057

ORCID for Maria Evandrou: orcid.org/0000-0002-2115-9358

Catalogue record

Export record