You may have a dozen or more best friends in your age group, but they aren’t always your best friends. You may not agree, but billionaires Ratan Tata, Ed Sheeran, Kourtney Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston, and many others do. They found their best friends in people decades younger or older than them.
While best friends often consist of people in the same age group, there are many who have inter-generational besties, and this tribe is only growing.
What can inter-generational besties do that friends in the same age group can’t?
Among all the activities that friends in the same age group engage in, inter-generational friends can perform significantly better. Don’t believe? Try it out.
Bonds that transcend age
Being 37 years old and having friends from various age groups, Arouba Kabir, an emotional and mental health professional and founder of Enso Wellness, always advocates having inter-generational friends.
“It comes with tremendous benefits for mental health and overall well-being,” points out Arouba, whose youngest friend is 27 and her oldest is 53, which she describes as highly beneficial.
Diverse Perspectives
Arouba says inter-generational friendships bring together different life experiences and viewpoints, enriching understanding and perspectives, which helps broaden the horizons of acceptance.
Additionally, there is mutual learning. “In such a fast-paced world, our younger friends introduce us to new trends and technologies, while our older friends can offer wisdom and life lessons,” she says.
Emotional Support
She feels such friendships provide a broader emotional support network, helping each other navigate various life stages and challenges. “We see better empathy, which also helps us reduce age-related stereotypes and prejudices,” says Arouba.
Lastly, inter-generational friendship leads to enhanced social skills. “Interacting with people of different ages enhances social skills and adaptability, contributing to better communication and relationship-building abilities,” adds Arouba.
May-December Friendship
At 86, billionaire businessman Ratan Tata has his best friend in 31-year-old Shantanu Naidu, while socialite Kourtney Kardashian, 45, and Addison Rae, 23, became best friends after hanging out during the beginning of the pandemic.
Similarly, actress Jennifer Aniston, 53, is a good friend to actress-singer Selena Gomez, 31. The same is true for Ed Sheeran, 33, whose best friend is American actress and filmmaker Courtney Cox, 60.
A Friend From All Seasons
Dr Jyoti Kapoor, founder-director and senior psychiatrist, Manasthali says our mental makeup, thoughts, and opinions are not a function of age; they’re more about experiences, patterns of perception, and common ways of processing emotions and situations. Therefore, people from very different backgrounds may feel kinship with each other.
“Inter-generational friendship is actually good because it allows one to expose oneself to new perspectives and learn about novel concepts and ideologies that are probably not part of a single age or cultural group,” she says.
According to Dr Jyoti, while an older person who has lived and developed a mature understanding of themselves and the world can enrich the experience of a younger individual, the younger individual brings fresh perspectives, questions long-held beliefs, and has the capacity to infuse curiosity and exploratory capacity.
“All this is possible if both individuals respect and trust each other as independently thinking individuals and are receptive to open ideas and new perspectives,” she says, adding that friendship is beautiful because it doesn’t depend on any specific criteria of age, gender, caste, or creed.
“It comes with tremendous benefits for mental health and overall well-being,” points out 37-year-old Arouba Kabir, an emotional and mental health professional, whose youngest friend is 27 and her oldest is 53, which she describes as highly beneficial.
