Synonyms
Definition
The process by which emotionally close and supportive relationships between individuals not related through blood or legal ties are interpreted as being “like family” by those individuals; this can include shifts in identities. In critical gerontology, the broader ideal of fictive kin relationships between older clients and care workers, invoked by organizations to market their services.
Overview
Drawn from family social science scholarship, in gerontology, the fictive kin concept acknowledges the important contributions of nonkin support for older adults without robust, traditionally defined family networks (Jordan-Marsh and Harden 2005; Macrae 1992). More specifically, the term signifies a shift in the meaning of particular relationships by one or both parties. Older adults often use kin terms to reframe supportive relationships involving friends and other nonkin (Barker 2002; Macrae 1992). For instance, in a study of Dutch...
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References
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Funk, L.M. (2021). Fictive Kin. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22009-9_16
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