Psychology

Changing Relationships in Late Adulthood

Late adulthood is often mistakenly viewed as a time of relaxation, where everything slows and an individual's life becomes more consistent and less stressful. In reality, late adulthood is a time of great change. Individuals retire, children move away, lifestyles alters significantly, and social ties decline. Most significantly, a person's relationships change significantly in late adulthood. This includes relationships with siblings, spouses, friends, children, and grandchildren. By considering these relationships and how they change, it will be shown that late adulthood is far from being a time of reduced stress. It may become a time of reduced stress if the individual makes the transition successfully, but the actual process of transition involves many significant changes.

One of the significant changes that occurs during late adulthood is that individuals often become more involved with their siblings. Stark and Hall (1988) suggest that this is partly...
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