Friendship and disaffiliation among the skid row population.

Personal relationships of skid row men have been described in terms of disaffiliation and replacemtent of friends. Analysis of social relationships of Philadelphia skid row residents upheld the theory of replacement. There was, however, a decline in the number of friends reported after the age of 70, which generally coincided with 20 years residence in the area. The loss of relationships was more closely associated with length of residence in skid row than with age. Qualitative measures of personal relationships indicated no major association between sociability and length of residence in skid row but a small association with advancing age. The proportions of friendless men desiring either friends of casual acquaintances were not related to either age or length of residence. These findings fail to uphold the disaffiliation hypothesis of aging and run counter to Vesliard's postulate of loss of need for meaningful personal relationships with increased exposure to the life of an outcast.