IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v9y2021i4p304-314.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intergenerational Friendship as a Conduit for Social Inclusion? Insights from the “Book‐Ends”

Author

Listed:
  • Riikka Korkiamäki

    (Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland)

  • Catherine Elliott O'Dare

    (School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)

Abstract

Friendship is said to promote psychological and physical well‐being and increase social inclusion. Yet, intergenerational friendship has garnered little research attention due to the assumed dominance of age homophily in friendship. In this article we explore intergenerational friendship from the perspective of “younger” and “older” friends at the “generational book‐ends” of the life course. We focus on the role that intergenerational friendship plays in processes of social inclusion in the everyday lives of the participants, bringing together a study conducted in Finland and one in Ireland. Both studies employ qualitative methodology, drawing from interviews with 31 young people who were refugees (aged 13–18) in Finland and 23 older people (aged 65+) in Ireland. Our findings reveal that the younger and the older participants concur on the qualities and benefits of intergenerational friendship. Additionally, while age is not a uniform definer of friendships, differences in chronological age are not meaningless but support caring, enjoyment, and inclusion in alternative ways compared to peer‐aged friendships. Access to diverse company, distinct support, broader networks, and alternative identities lead to increased experiences of social inclusion at a personal and societal level. We conclude by calling on policy makers and communities to create spaces and opportunities for inclusion through friendship for all generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Riikka Korkiamäki & Catherine Elliott O'Dare, 2021. "Intergenerational Friendship as a Conduit for Social Inclusion? Insights from the “Book‐Ends”," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(4), pages 304-314.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v9:y:2021:i:4:p:304-314
    DOI: 10.17645/si.v9i4.4555
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/4555
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.v9i4.4555?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Block, Per & Grund, Thomas, 2014. "Multidimensional homophily in friendship networks," Network Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 189-212, August.
    2. Korkiamäki, Riikka & Gilligan, Robbie, 2020. "Responding to misrecognition – A study with unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Katharina Herlofson & Gunhild Hagestad, 2011. "Challenges in moving from macro to micro: Population and family structures in ageing societies," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(10), pages 337-370.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Riikka Korkiamäki & Catherine Elliott O'Dare, 2021. "Intergenerational Friendship as a Conduit for Social Inclusion? Insights from the “Book‐Ends”," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(4), pages 304-314.
    2. Paul A. Gompers & Kevin Huang & Sophie Q. Wang, 2017. "Homophily in Entrepreneurial Team Formation," NBER Working Papers 23459, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. James Alm & Weizheng Lai & Xun Li & Peiwen Yuan, 2024. "Do "Birds of a Feather Flock Together?" Gender Differences in Decision-making Homophily of Friendships," Working Papers 2412, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    4. Per Block & Marion Hoffman & Isabel J. Raabe & Jennifer Beam Dowd & Charles Rahal & Ridhi Kashyap & Melinda C. Mills, 2020. "Social network-based distancing strategies to flatten the COVID-19 curve in a post-lockdown world," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(6), pages 588-596, June.
    5. Klepsch, Markus, 2023. "Do birds of a feather always flock together? A multidimensional examination of homophily in crowdfunding," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(1), pages 237-269.
    6. Martin, Darius D. & Wright, Adam C. & Krieg, John M., 2020. "Social networks and college performance: Evidence from dining data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Skopek, Jan & Leopold, Thomas & Posegga, Oliver, 2024. "The historical demography of the multigenerational family: Evidence from crowdsourced genealogies," OSF Preprints sxpaq, Center for Open Science.
    8. Irene Crimaldi & Michela Del Vicario & Greg Morrison & Walter Quattrociocchi & Massimo Riccaboni, 2015. "Homophily and Triadic Closure in Evolving Social Networks," Working Papers 3/2015, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised May 2015.
    9. Briseño-García, Arturo & William Husted, Bryan & Arango-Herera, Eduardo, 2022. "Do birds of a feather certify together? The impact of board interlocks on CSR certification homophily," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 336-344.
    10. Wu, Chengxing & Deng, Hongzhong & Tu, Chengyi, 2024. "A general network complexity reduction method for cooperative evolution in structured populations," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    11. Nicola Campigotto & Chiara Rapallini & Aldo Rustichini, 2022. "School friendship networks, homophily and multiculturalism: evidence from European countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1687-1722, October.
    12. Allan Puur & Asta Põldma & Luule Sakkeus & Anne Herm, 2011. "Intergenerational family constellations in contemporary Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(4), pages 135-172.
    13. Pearl A. Dykstra & Christoph Bühler & Tineke Fokkema & Valentina Hlebec & Gregor Petrič & Rok Platinovšek & Tina Kogovšek, 2016. "Social network indices in the Generations and Gender Survey," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(35), pages 995-1036.
    14. Pink, Sebastian & Kretschmer, David & Leszczensky, Lars, 2020. "Choice modelling in social networks using stochastic actor-oriented models," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    15. Skopek, Jan & Leopold, Thomas & Posegga, Oliver, 2024. "The historical demography of the multigenerational family: Evidence from crowdsourced genealogies," OSF Preprints sxpaq_v1, Center for Open Science.
    16. Hu, Zhibin & Wu, Guangdong & Han, Yilong & Niu, Yanliang, 2023. "Unraveling the dynamic changes of high-speed rail network with urban development: Evidence from China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    17. Arturs Kalnins & Michele Williams, 2021. "The geography of female small business survivorship: Examining the roles of proportional representation and stakeholders," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7), pages 1247-1274, July.
    18. Kauhanen, Iida & Kaukko, Mervi & Lanas, Maija, 2022. "Pockets of love. Unaccompanied children in institutional care in Finland," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    19. Pearl A. Dykstra & Aafke Komter, 2012. "Generational interdependencies in families," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(18), pages 487-506.
    20. Christopher Marquis & András Tilcsik, 2016. "Institutional Equivalence: How Industry and Community Peers Influence Corporate Philanthropy," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(5), pages 1325-1341, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v9:y:2021:i:4:p:304-314. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.