Dimensions of friendship in predicting quality of life of older adults

Social environment is one of the determinants of active ageing or the process of enhancing quality of life as people age. This study focused on friendship and how the relationships between certain dimensions of friendship influenced the quality of life of 103 community-dwelling Filipino older adults living in Metro Manila, Philippines. Sets of multiple regression analyses were used to test the moderation and mediation hypotheses. Results revealed that quality of friendship was a significant predictor of quality of life and that perceived closeness of friendship moderated this relationship between quality of friendship and quality of life. On the contrary, frequency of contact with friends and geographical proximity did not achieve the same level of significance. Without significant main effects, moderation and mediation hypotheses involving these dimensions of friendship were also insignificant. Keywords: friendship, quality of life, older adults, active ageing, convoy model of social relation