Friends benefit both our psychological and our emotional well-being by
increasing overall happiness, life satisfaction, and a positive sense of self among
women. Often, however, friendships decrease in the later years. The purpose of this
study is to learn more about divorced or widowed, retired women and their
friendships, specifically, whether friendships changed from work to retirement.
Friendships have been clearly identified by women as a significant component
of retirement life. The importance of friendship increases with age, and friends
have been found to buffer single women in particular from becoming isolated in
retirement.
The sample recruited for this study consisted of 20 single, career women who
had been retired between five and ten years and who were not coresiding with
another person. This study utilized in-depth, qualitative interviewing to enable
participants to define themselves and their experiences.
Overall, it appeared as though these women were very satisfied with retirement
and considered it to be a positive experience. Even though workplace friendships
had gradually been lost since retirement, this loss was considered normal and
former coworkers were considered to be on different paths from the retirees.
Workplace friends were often not whom the women felt closest to or socialized
with preretirement; consequently this gradual drifting and loss of workplace
friendships was not considered problematic. The women overall were making new
friends.
Various types of discord among friends were also reported. Discord had
negative affects but did not necessarily cause dissolution of the friendship. Betrayal
was often an incentive to immediately end a friendship; however, betrayal was
uncommon.
Friends played a major role in these women's lives. The emotional aspects of
the women's friendships were reported to be most important. Friends helped these
women feel valued and provided a substantial amount of support to one another.
The findings of this study should assure those divorced or widowed women who
may be nearing retirement that the adjustment to retirement need not be difficult,
especially if one has supportive friends. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/30236 |
| Date | 04 October 2002 |
| Creators | Barlow-Pieterick, Marilyn |
| Contributors | Richards, Leslie N., Olson, Geraldine I. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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