Reflection
For this project, I interviewed my mom; a middle-aged woman who claims that she will always be 25 years old. I was interested in friendships and how they develop as one ages. My mother came to America from Jordan when she was a young newlywed. Moving to America was frightening considering it was a whole new country with many differences compared to Jordan. However, it allowed her to experience friendship in a variety of ways.
There were many interesting concepts in the textbook that seemed to relate to my mother’s bonds as an immigrant. One concept was friendship across ethnic lines. Coming to America has allowed her to have friendships that involve people with different ethnic origins. She has learned so much about countries …show more content…
One of them was Attrition, the death of friends or family. My mother is not at the age where most of her friends are old enough to be dying naturally, so this did not play a role in her pruning her relationships. Ageism might seem to play a factor since my mom is a little older than some Ph.D. students. However, my mom goes to UALR, which is a university that caters to nontraditional students. Since nontraditional students are of different ages and circumstances, she finds it easier to make some friends than if she went to Hendrix College with a student population consisting of people aged in their early 20s. Also, most Ph.D. students are in their late 20s or early 30s, so the age difference is not as noticeable. Also, most of her time is spent with her advisors who are her age or older. In addition, having an education goal has not allowed my mother to participate in the “disengagement theory”. This theory believes that older adults naturally just withdraw from society when they do not feel that they have a lot to contribute to society. My mother seems to fit the current view that states that older adults prune their relationships because they believe in only having emotionally satisfying
For this project, I interviewed my mom; a middle-aged woman who claims that she will always be 25 years old. I was interested in friendships and how they develop as one ages. My mother came to America from Jordan when she was a young newlywed. Moving to America was frightening considering it was a whole new country with many differences compared to Jordan. However, it allowed her to experience friendship in a variety of ways.
There were many interesting concepts in the textbook that seemed to relate to my mother’s bonds as an immigrant. One concept was friendship across ethnic lines. Coming to America has allowed her to have friendships that involve people with different ethnic origins. She has learned so much about countries …show more content…
One of them was Attrition, the death of friends or family. My mother is not at the age where most of her friends are old enough to be dying naturally, so this did not play a role in her pruning her relationships. Ageism might seem to play a factor since my mom is a little older than some Ph.D. students. However, my mom goes to UALR, which is a university that caters to nontraditional students. Since nontraditional students are of different ages and circumstances, she finds it easier to make some friends than if she went to Hendrix College with a student population consisting of people aged in their early 20s. Also, most Ph.D. students are in their late 20s or early 30s, so the age difference is not as noticeable. Also, most of her time is spent with her advisors who are her age or older. In addition, having an education goal has not allowed my mother to participate in the “disengagement theory”. This theory believes that older adults naturally just withdraw from society when they do not feel that they have a lot to contribute to society. My mother seems to fit the current view that states that older adults prune their relationships because they believe in only having emotionally satisfying