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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Meeting the need to belong
— predicting effects of a friendship enrichment program for older women | | Author(s) | Nan L Stevens, Camille M S Martina, Gerben J Westerhof |
| Journal title | The Gerontologist, vol 46, no 4, August 2006 |
| Pages | pp 495-502 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Older women ; Loneliness ; Friendship ; Projects ; Longitudinal surveys ; Netherlands. |
| Annotation | Several hypotheses based on the need to belong, socio-emotional selectivity theory, and the social compensation model were tested using two studies from the Dutch Friendship Enrichment Program. A combination of semi-structured interviews and structured questionnaires was used to collect the data. A comparison group was also drawn from a nationwide representative sample. Participants were characterised by deprivation on the need to belong, that is, loss of a a partner, higher levels of loneliness and negative affect, and lower positive affect compared with a a nationwide representative sample of same-age women. Participants were more likely than women in a control group to report development of new friendships and an improvement in friendship. The combination of new and improved friendships contributed to a significant reduction in loneliness within a year. There was no evidence of satiation in the need to belong among those who did not expand or improve friendships. Loss of partner had no influence on friendship development, but age did. Older participants were less likely to improve friendships. The action-oriented approach that focused on friendship development in this intervention might be applied to other goals considered important in later life, for example optimal health, autonomy, and harmonious family relations. |
| Accession Number | CPA-070926209 A |
| Classmark | BD: DV: DS:SX: 3E: 3J: 76H |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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