This passage was adapted from
Beyond Rivalry by Elizabeth Stark. "Topics for Today" by Larraine C.
Smith and Nancy Nici Mare. Thomson Heinle, 2004.
"In our lives, we draw comfort and nurturance from a
group of people that we have various relationships with," says psychologist Toni C.
Antonucci of the University of Michigan. However, for reasons such as death, sickness or
moving, the size of this group dwindles as we age. That is when siblings
could become an important source of contact and support. Even though
we may not have counted our brothers and sisters among our closest contacts earlier, they
can become so in old age. Many aging people believe that the loneliness
they feel cannot be alleviated by just anyone. Only a relationship with someone who has
shared their past could fill the emptiness, they say.
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