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Family vs friends? |
That’s it.
Can I find
the original research?
If so, 2
questions:
1.
Is it true that family is more
important than friends according to their findings?
2.
What age groups are we talking
about?
First shock: this story is all over the internet. Over 1000 hits
on Google immediately but it’s hard to get to the source because of all the
news sites and blogs that are carrying it. Looks like it came from a press
release from the American Sociological Association and has been handled
awkwardly ever since. I don’t have a full paper so details may be missing, but
it looks serious. To answer my questions
1.
Is it true that family is more important than friends (according to
their findings)?
I think the answer is yes and no but only the
author can clarify this. When you think about it, it’s a strange comparison to
make, and one that I doubt the authors intended. Instead, it seems that the
comparisons should be made within
rather than across relationship type. So it’s not that, if you could choose,
you should take family with you into old age and ditch the friends. Instead,
it’s that if your relationships with family are close then you’re less likely to die than if your relationships
with family are distant. The same
effect isn’t seen with friends. But I’m not sure about the concept of a distant friend, so perhaps the nature of
friendship is so different that it’s not worth comparing. I don’t think it’s
counterintuitive at all.
2.
What age groups are we talking
about?
In the first wave in 2005/6, they were 57-85
years old. Big age range. I wonder if there were differences in the effects…
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