PROBLEMS WITH FRIENDS IN OLD-AGE

Although many studies of friendship support exist, little information is available on friendship's negative dimensions. Guided by a conceptu al framework encompassing structure, process, and phase elements of fr iendship patterns, we explored troublesome aspects of friendship in a probability sample of community residents, focusing on four types of p roblematic friendships. Data from in-depth interviews reveal that prob lems with friends stem from structural features internal to the dyad, factors external to the dyad, changes in the extent to which lives int ersect, and day-to-day interactions. These results are based on 42 res pondents reporting friendship problems, usually with one of the four f ocal types of friends, about evenly divided across genders, but showin g an age trend. Except for the ended friendships, some of which had di ssolved long ago, problems were discussed in the context of ongoing re lationships. Older adults do not necessarily terminate friendships tha t include certain difficulties.