Friendship in Later Life: A Research Agenda

Friendship is a relationship that can endure across the entire lifespan, serving a vital role forsustaining social connectedness in late life when other relationships may become unavailable.This article begins with a description of the importance of studying friendship in late life and thebenefits of friendship for older adults, pointing to the value of additional research for enhancingknowledge about this crucial bond. Next is discussion of theoretical approaches forconceptualizing friendship research, followed by identification of emerging areas of late-lifefriendship research and novel questions that investigators could explore fruitfully. We include apresentation of innovative research methods and existing national and international data sets thatcan advance late-life friendship research using large samples and cross-national comparisons.The final section advocates for development and assessment of interventions aimed at improvingfriendship and reducing social isolation among older adults