ABSTRACT

The above quotation from Paul Wright is full of insightful opinions that I revisit throughout the chapter. I thought he would be the right person to use for my opening quotation for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the well-deserved reputation he enjoys in the community of friendship scholars. Second, unlike so many of his colleagues, Paul has actually written about older adult cross-sex friendships (1989). Furthermore, he developed a model of friendship that foreshadowed and inspired some of the ideas articulated throughout this book about the relationship between friendship and self-concept development (1984; see chap. 5, this volume). There is one more reason why Paul is eminently qualified to open this chapter, a reason I feel sure he would not mind me sharing with the reader. Three years ago Paul officially became part of the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population (i.e., older adults). Paul has plenty of company. At the age of 68 he has become one of 30 million Americans over the

age of 65 (Harvard Health Letter, May 1999), a number that is expected to increase significantly by the year 2020 (Berry, 1993).