Transitions Into and Out of Cohabitation in Later Life

Cohabiting couple's economic organization and marriage patterns across social classes

Objective

Empirically examine whether different economic theories of marriage formation predict the transition from cohabitation to marriage differently across social classes.

Background

Less-educated individuals marry their cohabiting partners at lower rates than their college-educated peers, but the reasons for this are unknown. Few studies have examined the intersection of social class and couple-level economic resources to understand if the potentially gendered economic determinants of marriage vary according to a couple's social location.

Method

Couple-month data come from the 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation, including 1,879 cohabiting couples, 478 of whom transition to marriage. Logistic regression is used to test whether the marriage bar, gender specialization, gendered institutions, or gender revolution framework best predicts the likelihood of marrying.

Results

Joint indicators of the marriage bar and the gendered economic organization of couples both predict marriage, but the specific gendered organization varies by the couple's level of education. Among couples where neither partner has a college degree, male-breadwinning couples are most likely to marry; dual-earning couples are most likely to marry among more-educated couples.

Conclusion

Although college-educated couples seem to have shifted to a more egalitarian model of marriage, as predicted by the gender revolution framework, the marriages of the less-educated are still characterized by traditional arrangements, in line with the idea that marriage is a gendered institution. By showing that different theories predict marriage depending on the couple's social position, these findings provide groundwork to explore why the less educated are increasingly less likely to marry their cohabiting partners.

A randomized trial of a theory-driven model of health coaching for older adults: short-term and sustained outcomes

BACKGROUND

Healthy Lifetime, a theoretically driven, personalized health coaching program delivered electronically, including face-to-face videoconferencing, was developed to intervene in early aging to stave off functional decline and minimize the onset/exacerbation of chronic conditions.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the efficacy of a theoretically driven, personalized health coaching program in participants 50 years and older with one or more chronic conditions using a randomized, controlled, pragmatic clinical trial methodology.

METHODS

Participants were randomly assigned to the HL (n = 59) or a usual care (n = 63) group. The HL group received health coaching from a trained nurse over eight weeks. Outcomes were measured at baseline, eight weeks, and 20 weeks (after the 12-week no-treatment phase). Regression modeling with fixed-effect repeated measures was used to account for the longitudinal data collection.

RESULTS

For the HL group, health habits increased at 8 weeks (3.1 units; SE = 1.0; p = .0005; effect size = .15). This difference was sustained at 20 weeks (2.4 units, SE = 0.2; p = .0005). Independent self-care agency improved at 8 weeks in individuals with high blood pressure (13.5 units; SE = 4.37; p = .0023; effect size = .3). However, that difference was not sustained at 20 weeks (p = .47). No significant improvements were shown in the usual care group at 8 weeks or 20 weeks.

CONCLUSIONS

HL participants significantly improved their health habits at 8 weeks and sustained this improvement at week 20 (after a 12-week no-treatment phase) vs. the usual care group. Changing health habits alone has been shown to reduce all-cause morbidity and mortality in chronic disease. The high-functioning, community-dwelling older adults with chronic diseases we studied is an important target population for primary care practices to intervene early in aging to stave off the complications of chronic disease and functional decline.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov (record NCT05070923, 07/10/2021).

Income Pooling in Midlife: A Comparison of Remarried and Cohabiting Relationships

OBJECTIVES

The share of adults cohabiting at later ages has risen in the past few decades, though little is known about income pooling among midlife cohabitors. Cohabitation could be an attractive option because partners may be able to preserve their economic autonomy and maintain assets for the next generation. Conversely, cohabitation may operate as an alternative to marriage, allowing midlife adults to combine their resources to achieve economies of scale without the legal obligations of marriage. This study compared income pooling among middle-aged remarried and cohabiting adults in the United States.

METHODS

Data were from the nationally representative 2013 Families and Relationships Survey. The analytic sample included adults aged 50-65 who were cohabiting or remarried (N = 888). Logistic regression models were used to predict the likelihood of income pooling among cohabiting and remarried midlife adults, net of relationship, demographic, and economic characteristics.

RESULTS

Aligning with the hypothesis that cohabitation and remarriage are distinct in middle age, the odds of income pooling were lower for cohabitors than remarrieds. However, the gap between cohabitors and remarrieds narrowed by later ages.

DISCUSSION

This study provides insight into the economic organization of midlife cohabiting relationships, which may have implications for individual well-being and relationship decision-making among middle-aged couples.

Household Composition Under Strain: Regional Unemployment Rates and the Older American Housing Decision

This research explored the relationship between regional unemployment rates and the community-based housing configuration of older Americans. The analysis used the American Community Survey from 2006 to 2016 to examine regions experiencing high unemployment for differences in the likelihood of older adults to live alone, with a spouse or partner, or in a multigenerational household. Findings demonstrated that under the strain of higher regional unemployment, older adults were less likely to live alone and more likely to live in a multigenerational household. Additionally, older adults with a difficulty that could signify a need for support were less likely to live with a spouse or partner, while those without a difficulty were more likely to live with a spouse or partner. Recession-related safety-net policy should target supports to community-dwelling older adults, particularly those living alone, those with more support needs, with lower income, and older renters, because their housing arrangements may become vulnerable during regional economic contraction. Implications during COVID-19 are discussed.

How Do Marital Transitions Affect Self-Perceptions of Aging?

OBJECTIVES

We analyzed whether marital status and experiences of marital loss or gain were associated with self-perceptions of aging (SPA), a major psychosocial mechanism of healthy aging.

METHOD

We used data from 7028 participants of the Health and Retirement Study. Participants reported their marital status and their positive and negative SPA on two occasions 4 years apart. We ran general linear models to analyze differences in SPA between men and women who remained married, became divorced or widowed, or remarried following divorce or widowhood.

RESULTS

Participants who experienced marital loss had lower positive SPA than participants who remained marred. Participants who experienced marital gain had lower negative SPA than participants who remained married. None of the associations differed between men and women.

DISCUSSION

Results suggest that it may not be marital status itself, but rather the transition into or out of marriage, that impacts how people appraise their own aging.

Cohabiting Adult Children's Transfers to Parents in the United States

Objective

This brief report presents national estimates of transfers of time and money from cohabiting adult children (ages 18 to 65) to their parents (own and in-laws) to test whether cohabiting adults give differently from their counterparts.

Background

Previous U.S. studies use data collected in the late 1980s and mid-1990s, when cohabitation was an emerging family form; they find mixed results. Rising rates of cohabitation and an aging population of parents who may rely on transfers from adult children necessitate updated estimates that can help develop the theory of institutionalization of cohabitation.

Method

This study used the 2013 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Rosters and Transfers Module, a sample of U.S. households (N=6,340), and logistic and negative binomial models to estimate the likelihood of giving any time or any money to parents by the respondent's union status, the amounts given, and parent type (own, in-laws).

Results

Cohabitors were less likely to give time to their own parents than their never married counterparts, and gave fewer hours, but were more likely to give time and gave more hours than married adults. For financial transfers to own parents, cohabitors and married respondents gave similarly, but both were less likely to give any money than are single respondents. Cohabitators gave more hours to their in-laws than married respondents.

Conclusion

Cohabitors behave somewhere in-between marital "greedy institution" norms and broader norms of solidarity with parents. More work should be done to understand how union status affects transfers to parents.

Current Marital Status and Epigenetic Clocks Among Older Adults in the United States: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study

Objectives: This study examines how current marital status is associated with epigenetic aging. Methods: Data from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study were used to examine marital status differences in the four epigenetic clocks, that is, GrimAge, DunedinPoAm, PhenoAge, and Zhang (N = 3765). Weighted ordinary least square regression models were estimated separately for men and women. Results: Remarried, cohabiting, divorced/separated and widowed older adults showed greater epigenetic aging than the continuously married similarly among men and women. Distinct sex difference was observed among the never married. While never-married women exhibited greater epigenetic aging than their continuously married counterparts, older men in lifelong singlehood showed comparable epigenetic aging to their continuously married peers. Discussion: The findings speak to the importance of marital context for epigenetic aging in later life and the biological risk associated with lifelong singlehood for older women in the US.

Union Formation Expectations among Older Adults Who Live Apart Together in the USA

There is an ongoing debate over whether living apart together (LAT) relationships are simply long-term relationships or alternatives to cohabitation or marriage. This study examined cohabitation and marriage expectations among older adults who LAT in the United States to address the debate. The analyses also compared the marriage expectations of older adults who LAT and cohabitors. Using data from the 2011 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), we examined the union expectations of 250 individuals who LAT and 234 cohabitors. After providing a demographic portrait of older adults who LAT, we used ordered logistic regression models to predict their cohabitation and marriage expectations. Additional models predicted marriage expectations for older adults who LAT versus cohabitors. Older adults who LAT were unlikely to expect to formalize their unions. Adults who LAT were less likely to expect marriage than cohabitors. LAT relationships appear to be long-term partnerships in the United States.

Relationship Quality in Midlife: A Comparison of Dating, Living Apart Together, Cohabitation, and Marriage

Objective

This study compared the relationship quality of U.S. midlife adults in dating, living apart together (LAT) relationships, cohabitation, and marriage.

Background

Unmarried partnerships are gaining ground in midlife but how these partnerships compare to each other and to marriage is unclear. From an incomplete institutionalization perspective, those in unmarried relationships, especially LAT relationships but also cohabitations, face challenges due to unclear relationship norms and expectations which may eventuate in poorer relationship quality than that of the married. Alternatively, cohabitation and, by extension, LAT relationships, offer flexibility and autonomy and thus may function as an alternative to marriage marked by comparable relationship quality.

Method

Data were drawn from the 2013 Families and Relationships Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults. The analytic sample was composed of adults aged 50-65 in a partnership (N=2,166). Multivariable models compared the associations between relationship type (dating, LAT, cohabiting, and married) and relationship quality (happiness, support, commitment, disagreement, and instability).

Results

The incomplete institutionalization perspective was supported for LATs, who tended to report poorer relationship quality than marrieds. For cohabitors, this perspective received mixed support. Although cohabitors reported less happiness and commitment than marrieds, which aligned with the incomplete institutionalization perspective, the groups did not differ on relationship support, disagreement, or instability, supporting the cohabitation as an alternative to marriage perspective. Dating, LAT and cohabiting relationships were remarkably alike.

Conclusion

This study has implications for understanding the shifting landscape of relationships in midlife which in turn may shape individual health and well-being.

Gender, union formation, and assortative mating among older women

This paper presents a search-theoretic model of union formation among women, aged 55 and older. Specifically, it provides new estimates of gender differentials in cohabitation and marriage at older ages, and documents recent patterns of assortative mating using data from the 2008-2017 American Community Survey. Our analyses reveal that cohabitation represents a much smaller share of all older unmarried women, all partnered women, and all women in comparison to patterns observed among their male counterparts. The results also reveal highly uneven patterns of union formation by age, race and marital history, which reflect demographically uneven constraints and preferences. Our analyses also document, for the first time, patterns of assortative mating at older ages. Shortages of similarly-aged men, especially among older African American women, seemingly heighten the likelihood of demographically mismatched unions. Older women are less likely to form unions with same-race or economically attractive partners, defined as men having a college-degree. This study shows that older single women, in general, are at a comparative disadvantage in the marriage market, both in forming co-residential unions and in finding partners who match their own social, demographic, and economic profiles. This paper highlights considerable heterogeneity in the experiences of America's older women. It calls for new theoretical approaches that acknowledge the unequal resources and bargaining power among older women in the marriage market.

Exploring differential response to an emergency department-based care transition intervention

OBJECTIVE

To identify multivariable subgroups of patients with differential responses to a nurse-delivered care transition intervention after an emergency department (ED) visit in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using an emerging data-driven method.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of RCT.

PARTICIPANTS

512 individuals enrolled in an RCT of a nurse-delivered care transition intervention after an ED visit. All 512 participants were included in a pre-specified subgroup analysis, and 451 of these had sufficient complete case data to be included in a model-based recursive (MoB) partitioning analysis.

METHODS

The primary outcome was having at least one ED visit in 30 days after the index ED visit. Two analytical methods explored heterogeneity of treatment effects: data driven model-based recursive partitioning (MoB) using 37 candidate baseline variables, and a contextual point of comparison with prespecified subgroups defined by ED super-user status (≥ 3 ED visits in previous 6 months or not), sex (male/female), and age, individually examined via treatment arm by subgroup interaction terms in logistic regression models. Internal validation of the MoB analysis via bootstrap resampling with an optimism corrected c-statistic was conducted to provide a bias-corrected estimate.

RESULTS

MoB detected treatment effect heterogeneity in a single subgroup, marital status. Unmarried patients randomized to the intervention had a repeat ED use rate of 22% compared to 34% in the usual care group; married patients randomized to the intervention had a 27% ED return rate compared to 12% in the usual care group. Internal validation demonstrated an optimism corrected c-statistic of 0.54. No treatment-by-covariate subgroup interactions were identified among the 3 prespecified subgroups.

CONCLUSION

Although exploratory, the results of the MoB analysis suggest that patient factors related to social relationships such as marital status may be important contributors to differential response to a care transition intervention after an ED visit. These were characteristics that the investigators had not anticipated or planned to examine in the individual prespecified subgroup analysis. Data-driven methods can yield unexpected findings and contribute to a more complete understanding of differential treatment effects in subgroup analysis, which can inform further work on development of effective care transition interventions in the ED setting.

Same-Sex Couples and Cognitive Impairment: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study

OBJECTIVES

We provide the first nationally representative population-based study of cognitive disparities among same-sex and different-sex couples in the United States.

METHODS

We analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study (2000-2016). The sample included 23,669 respondents (196 same-sex partners and 23,473 different-sex partners) aged 50 and older who contributed to 85,117 person-period records (496 from same-sex partners and 84,621 from different-sex partners). Cognitive impairment was assessed using the modified version of the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Mixed-effects discrete-time hazard regression models were estimated to predict the odds of cognitive impairment.

RESULTS

The estimated odds of cognitive impairment were 78% (p < .01) higher for same-sex partners than for different-sex partners. This disparity was mainly explained by differences in marital status and, to a much lesser extent, by differences in physical and mental health. Specifically, a significantly higher proportion of same-sex partners than different-sex partners were cohabiting rather than legally married (72.98% vs. 5.42% in the study sample), and cohabitors had a significantly higher risk of cognitive impairment than their married counterparts (odds ratio = 1.53, p < .001).

DISCUSSION

The findings indicate that designing and implementing public policies and programs that work to eliminate societal homophobia, especially among older adults, is a critical step in reducing the elevated risk of cognitive impairment among older same-sex couples.

Marital status and outcomes in chronic heart failure: Does it make a difference of being married, widow or widower?

OBJECTIVE:

We aimed to compare the outcomes of chronic heart failure (HF) patients with reduced ejection fraction (CHFrEF) in the Turkish Research Team in HF (TREAT-HF) registry according to marital status with a specific focus on being the widowed (widow/widower) versus the married.

METHODS:

TREAT-HF is a network, enrolling CHFrEF with a follow up for HF-related hospitalization (HFrH) and all-cause mortality (ACM). In this cohort, the widowed patients were compared with patients who were married before and after propensity score (PS) matching analysis.

RESULTS:

There were 723 cHFrEF patients with a complete dataset, including reported marital status at baseline for this analysis. Out of 723 patients with HF, 37 “never-married” and “divorced” patients were excluded from the analysis. Then, out of 686 remaining patients with HF, who had at least one reported marriage in the database, widowed patients with HF (n=124) were compared with married patients (n=562). The mean follow up period was 21±12 months up to 48 months. The widowed patients had a higher risk of HFrH (p=0.047), although ACM remained similar compared to married patients (p=0.054). After PS matching, HFrH remained more frequent among the widowed compared with the married (p=0.039) although ACM yielded similar rates. Of note, it was shown that being a widower (p=0.419) was not linked to increased risk of HFrH during follow up contrary to being a widow (p=0.037) despite similar age, ejection fraction, creatinine, NYHA functional class distribution and a similar rate of life-saving medications.

CONCLUSION:

PS matching analysis yielded that the widowed had increased the risk for HFrH. Of note, widowers did not seem to have an increased risk for HFrH, contrary to widows.

Relationship Quality Among Older Cohabitors: A Comparison to Remarrieds

OBJECTIVES

Later life marital patterns have undergone shifts over the past few decades, including a rapid growth of cohabiting unions. Despite the increase in older adult cohabitation, research on this population has been slow to keep up. Intimate relationships are linked to well-being and relationship quality is especially important because high-quality relationships offer a number of benefits for well-being, whereas poor-quality relationships often are detrimental. This study compares cohabiting and remarried individuals on two measures of relationship quality.

METHOD

Using data from the 2010 and 2012 Health and Retirement Study, I investigate the positive and negative relationship quality of cohabitors relative to their remarried counterparts and whether the association of union type and relationship quality varies by race.

RESULTS

Across both positive and negative relationship quality, I found few differences between cohabiting and remarried individuals. Black cohabitors report higher positive relationship quality than remarrieds, whereas White cohabitors and remarrieds do not differ.

DISCUSSION

These findings suggest that cohabiting unions and remarriages are comparable among White older adults, but that Black cohabitors may gain more in terms of positive relationship quality than their remarried counterparts.

Young Adulthood Relationships in an Era of Uncertainty: A Case for Cohabitation

The young adulthood years are demographically dense. Dr. Ronald Rindfuss made this claim when he was Population Association of America (PAA) president in 1991 (Rindfuss 1991), and this conclusion holds today. I offer both an update of his work by including Millennials and a new view on young adulthood by focusing on an increasingly common experience: cohabitation. I believe we need to move away from our marriage-centric lens of young adulthood and embrace the complexity that cohabitation offers. The cohabitation boom is continuing with no evidence of a slowdown. Young adults are experiencing complex relationship biographies, and social science research is struggling to keep pace. Increasingly, there is a decoupling of cohabitation and marriage, suggesting new ways of framing our understanding of relationships in young adulthood. As a field, we can do better to ensure that our theories, methods, and data collections better reflect the new relationship reality faced by young adults.

Repartnering Following Gray Divorce: The Roles of Resources and Constraints for Women and Men

The doubling of the gray divorce rate (i.e., divorce at age 50 or older) over the past few decades portends growth in later-life repartnering, yet little is known about the mechanisms undergirding decisions to repartner after gray divorce. Using data from the 1998-2014 Health and Retirement Study, we examined women's and men's likelihoods of forming a remarriage or cohabiting union following gray divorce by estimating competing risk multinomial logistic regression models using discrete-time event history data. About 22 % of women and 37 % of men repartnered within 10 years after gray divorce. Repartnering more often occurred through cohabitation than remarriage, particularly for men. Resources such as economic factors, health, and social ties were linked to repartnering, but constraints captured by the contours of the marital biography were also salient, underscoring the distinctive features of union formation in later life.

Families in Later Life: A Decade in Review

Later-life families encompass the legal, biological, romantic, and kin-like relationships of persons ages 65 and older. Research on older families has flourished over the past decade, as population aging has intensified concerns regarding the capacities of families to care for older adults and the adequacy of public pension systems to provide an acceptable standard of living. Shifting patterns of family formation over the past half-century have created a context in which contemporary older adults' family lives differ markedly from earlier generations. Decreasing numbers of adults are growing old with their first and only spouse, with rising numbers divorcing, remarrying, forming non-marital romantic partnerships, or living single by choice. Remarriage and the formation of stepfamilies pose challenges and opportunities as older adults negotiate complex decisions such as inheritance and caregiving. Family relationships are consequential for older adults' well-being, operating through both biological and psychosocial mechanisms. We synthesize research from the past decade, revealing how innovations in data and methods have refined our understanding of late-life families against a backdrop of demographic change. We show how contemporary research refines classic theoretical frameworks and tests emerging conceptual models. We organize the article around two main types of family relationships: (1) marriage and romantic partnerships and (2) intergenerational relationships. We discuss how family caregiving occurs within these relationships, and offer three promising avenues for future research: ethnic minority and immigrant families; older adults without close kin ("elder orphans"); and the potentials of rapidly evolving technologies for intergenerational relationships and caregiving.

Marital status and cognitive impairment in the United States: evidence from the National Health and Aging Trends Study

PURPOSE

We provide population-based longitudinal evidence of marital status differences in the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in the United States.

METHODS

Data were from the longitudinal National Health and Aging Trends Study, 2011-2018. The sample included 7508 respondents aged 65 years and older who contributed 25,897 person-year records. We estimated discrete-time hazard models to predict the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment, not dementia (CIND), as well as impairment in three major cognitive domains: memory, orientation, and executive function.

RESULTS

Relative to their married counterparts, divorced and widowed elders had higher odds of dementia and CIND, as well as higher odds of impairment in each of the cognitive domains. Never-married elders had higher odds of impairment in memory and orientation than their married counterparts but did not differ significantly in the odds of impaired executive function, dementia, or CIND. Cohabiting elders did not differ significantly from married respondents on any measure of cognitive impairment. We found no gender differences in the associations between marital status and the measures of cognitive impairment.

CONCLUSIONS

Marital status is a potentially important but overlooked social risk/protective factor for cognitive impairment. Divorced and widowed older adults are particularly vulnerable to cognitive impairment.

Later Life Marital Dissolution and Repartnership Status: A National Portrait

Objectives

Our study compares two types of later life marital dissolution that occur after age 50-divorce and widowhood-and their associations with repartnership status (i.e., remarried, cohabiting, or unpartnered).

Method

We used data from the Health and Retirement Study to provide a portrait of later life divorce and widowhood for women and men. Next, we tested whether marital dissolution type is related to women's and men's repartnered status, distinguishing among remarrieds, cohabitors, and unpartnereds, net of key sociodemographic indicators.

Results

Divorcees are more often repartnered through either remarriage or cohabitation than are widoweds. This gap persists among women net of an array of sociodemographic factors. For men, the differential is reduced to nonsignificance with the inclusion of these factors.

Discussion

Later life marital dissolution increasingly occurs through divorce rather than widowhood, and divorce is more often followed by repartnership. The results from this study suggest that gerontological research should not solely focus on widowhood but also should pay attention to divorce and repartnering during later life.

Subjective Well-being and Partnership Dynamics: Are Same-Sex Relationships Different?

We analyze Dutch panel data to investigate whether partnership has a causal effect on subjective well-being. As in previous studies, we find that, on average, being in a partnership improves well-being. Well-being gains of marriage are larger than those of cohabitation. The well-being effects of partnership formation and disruption are symmetric. We also find that marriage improves well-being for both younger and older cohorts, whereas cohabitation benefits only the younger cohort. Our main contribution to the literature is on well-being effects of same-sex partnerships. We find that these effects are homogeneous to sexual orientation. Gender differences exist in the well-being effects of same-sex partnerships: females are happier cohabiting, whereas marriage has a stronger well-being effect on males.

Measuring Cohabitation in U.S. National Surveys

Cohabitation is one of the fastest growing family forms in the United States. It is widespread and continues to increase but has not been consistently measured across surveys. It is important to track the quality of data on cohabitation because it has implications for research on the correlates and consequences of cohabitation for adults and children. Recent rounds of the Current Population Survey (CPS), National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY-97), and National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provide an opportunity to contrast estimates of cohabitation status and experience using nationally representative data sets and assess the quality of data on cohabitation in these data sets. Results demonstrated that the surveys provide similar estimates of current cohabitation status, except the CPS resulted in lower estimates. In terms of cohabitation experience (i.e., having ever cohabited), Add Health produced higher estimates, whereas both the NSFG and NLSY-97 produced lower estimates. We documented a strong education gradient across all surveys, with lower levels of current cohabitation and cohabitating experience and with increases in educational attainment. Racial/ethnic differences in cohabitation were inconsistent across surveys. We discuss aspects of sampling and measurement that potentially explain differences in estimates. Our findings have implications not only for survey design but also for the interpretation of results based on these four national surveys.

Depressive Symptoms Following Later-life Marital Dissolution and Subsequent Repartnering

The doubling of the divorce rate among individuals over age 50 during the past 20 years underscores the urgency of studying the consequences of gray divorce and subsequent repartnering for adult well-being. We filled this gap by using the 1998-to-2014 Health and Retirement Study to evaluate how the levels of depressive symptoms changed following gray divorce versus widowhood. Individuals who divorced or became widowed already had experienced higher levels of depressive symptoms before dissolution relative to those who remained married. Compared with those who became widowed, those who transitioned to divorce experienced a lower elevation and a shorter time to recovery in depressive symptoms. When repartnering, both groups experienced similar magnitudes of initial reduction and subsequent rates of increase. Both the negative consequences of marital dissolution and the beneficial effects of repartnership for mental health persisted for several years, although ultimately they reverted to their predissolution levels of depressive symptoms.

Assessing spousal support and health in an aging population: support and strain amidst changing social dynamics

This study examined the role of relationship quality on physical and psychological health among older adults. It included 2,298 adults aged 50 and older who participated in the Midlife in the US national longitudinal study of health and well-being. We assessed the effect of spousal support and strain on psychological and physical health, controlling for age, education, income, depression levels and prior health. Results indicated that spousal support and strain affected psychological health but not physical health. Despite prior research showing an association between marital quality and physical health, this study did not support the conceptualization that relationship quality measured by spousal support or strain has a direct effect on long-term health in this sample of older adults. This study does not preclude the presence of a mediated or moderated association between relationship quality and physical health. Higher levels of spousal support are associated with positive psychological health among adults over age 50 while spousal strain is associated with negative psychological health. This study supports the premise that relationship quality has an ongoing impact on the psychological health of mature adults, bolstering arguments to include psychological health screening and couples relationship education among health services provided to older adults.

A National Dyadic Study of Oral Sex, Relationship Quality, and Well-Being among Older Couples

Objectives

We examine how giving versus receiving oral sex, 2 processes that are linked to relationship quality, are associated with older men's and women's well-being.

Method

We analyzed 884 heterosexual couples from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (2010-2011). We estimate Actor-Partner Interdependence Models using the SEM approach to assess three well-being outcomes: general happiness, psychological distress, and self-reported mental health.

Results

Older adults with better relationship quality gave oral sex to their partner more often than those with worse relationship quality; this association was stronger for men than for women. While receiving oral sex was positively related to both men's, and women's perceptions of relationship quality, women's relationship quality was more strongly linked to their partners' well-being than men's. Correspondingly, men's giving of oral sex (and thus their female partner's receiving of oral sex) was positively related to their own well-being through increasing their female partner's perceived relationship quality.

Discussion

Given the high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions among older adults, oral sex may play an important but overlooked role in maintaining an active sexual life, a high-quality relationship, and psychological vibrancy in late life.

New partnerships in widowhood in Spain: Realities and desires

Widowhood has traditionally been associated with the end of the family cycle; however, social and generational transformations in Spain are providing a new context for the development of new partnerships in widowhood. This study analyzes widowed persons who have found new partners and those who would be willing to do so, focusing on their characteristics and motives and related sociodemographic factors. Research is based on a sample of 306 widows and widowers in Spain taken from the survey Social Networks and Well-Being. The results reveal the importance of sociodemographic factors for both those who wish to have a partner as well as for those who have one. For the former, elements associated with quality of life are very important, while among those with a new partner, the key is not having an extensive family support network. The principal motives for looking for a new relationship are related to enjoying life more and not feeling alone; while those who reject a new relationship do so because of the belief that their lost partner is irreplaceable.

Marital Biography, Social Security Receipt, and Poverty

Increasingly, older adults are unmarried, which could mean a larger share is at risk of economic disadvantage. Using data from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study, we chart the diverse range of marital biographies, capturing marital sequences and timing, of adults who are age eligible for Social Security and examine three indicators of economic well-being: Social Security receipt, Social Security benefit levels, and poverty status. Partnereds are disproportionately likely to receive Social Security and they enjoy relatively high Social Security benefits and very low poverty levels. Among singles, economic well-being varies by marital biography and gender. Gray divorced and never-married women face considerable economic insecurity. Their Social Security benefits are relatively low, and their poverty rates are quite high (over 25%), indicating Social Security alone is not sufficient to prevent these women from falling into poverty. By comparison, gray widoweds are the most advantaged singles.

Who Says I Do: The Changing Context of Marriage and Health and Quality of Life for LGBT Older Adults

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Until recently, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults were excluded from full participation in civil marriage. The purpose of this study is to examine how legal marriage and relationship status are associated with health-promoting and at-risk factors, health, and quality of life of LGBT adults aged 50 and older.

DESIGN AND METHODS

We utilized weighted survey data from Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study (NHAS) participants who resided in states with legalized same-sex marriage in 2014 (N = 1,821). Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine differences by relationship status (legally married, unmarried partnered, single) in economic and social resources; LGBT contextual and identity factors; health; and quality of life.

RESULTS

We found 24% were legally married, and 26% unmarried partnered; one-half were single. Those legally married reported better quality of life and more economic and social resources than unmarried partnered; physical health indicators were similar between legally married and unmarried partnered. Those single reported poorer health and fewer resources than legally married and unmarried partnered. Among women, being legally married was associated with more LGBT microaggressions.

IMPLICATIONS

LGBT older adults, and practitioners serving them, should become educated about how legal same-sex marriage interfaces with the context of LGBT older adults' lives, and policies and protections related to age and sexual and gender identity. Longitudinal research is needed to understand factors contributing to decisions to marry, including short- and long-term economic, social, and health outcomes associated with legal marriage among LGBT older adults.

Projections of white and black older adults without living kin in the United States, 2015 to 2060

Close kin provide many important functions as adults age, affecting health, financial well-being, and happiness. Those without kin report higher rates of loneliness and experience elevated risks of chronic illness and nursing facility placement. Historical racial differences and recent shifts in core demographic rates suggest that white and black older adults in the United States may have unequal availability of close kin and that this gap in availability will widen in the coming decades. Whereas prior work explores the changing composition and size of the childless population or those without spouses, here we consider the kinless population of older adults with no living close family members and how this burden is changing for different race and sex groups. Using demographic microsimulation and the United States Census Bureau's recent national projections of core demographic rates by race, we examine two definitions of kinlessness: those without a partner or living children, and those without a partner, children, siblings, or parents. Our results suggest dramatic growth in the size of the kinless population as well as increasing racial disparities in percentages kinless. These conclusions are driven by declines in marriage and are robust to different assumptions about the future trajectory of divorce rates or growth in nonmarital partnerships. Our findings draw attention to the potential expansion of older adult loneliness, which is increasingly considered a threat to population health, and the unequal burden kinlessness may place on black Americans.

Marriage, Cohabitation, and Divorce in Later Life

Older adults are at the forefront of family change as a declining share experiences lifelong marriage and rates of cohabitation and divorce in later life continue to rise. The goal of this article is to review recent scholarship on marriage, cohabitation, and divorce among older adults and identify directions for future research. The varied family experiences characterizing the later life course demonstrate the importance of moving beyond marital status to capture additional dimensions of the marital biography, including transitions, timing, duration, and sequencing. Cohabitation operates as an alternative to marriage for older adults and is increasingly replacing remarriage following divorce or widowhood. The gray divorce rate has doubled in recent decades as older adults abandon marriage in favor of unmarried partnerships or singlehood. The retreat from marriage among older adults raises important questions about the ramifications of family change for health and well-being as well as access to caregivers given that spouses historically have been the primary source of care.

Shifts in Higher-Order Unions and Stepfamilies among Currently Cohabiting and Married Women of Childbearing Age

Shifts in union formation and childbearing have undoubtedly altered the prevalence and structure of higher-order unions and stepfamilies, but no study has examined trends over time. Comparing the 1988 and 2011-2013 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), I produce estimates of repartnering and stepfamily formation among currently partnered women aged 15-44. The percentage of intact unions that are remarriages stayed stable (around 27-28%), but a growing proportion of currently married and cohabiting women had another cohabiting partner in the past. The percentage of intact unions that are stepfamilies increased from 24% to 31%, with an increase in cohabiting stepfamilies from 19% to 39% of all stepfamilies. Further, while the majority of remarriages are stepfamilies, the majority of women's stepfamilies are no longer remarriages due to union formation among never-married parents. Cohabiting (but not marital) stepfamilies also exhibited changes in which partner had children and in shared childbearing.

Psychological Well-Being among Older Adults: The Role of Partnership Status

Today's older adults are increasingly unmarried. Some are in cohabiting unions, others are dating, and many remain unpartnered. Unmarried older adults are at risk of poorer well-being than the married, but it is unclear whether older cohabitors fare worse than or similar to their married counterparts. Nor have well-being differences among cohabitors, daters, and unpartnered persons been considered. Conceptualizing marital status as a continuum of social attachment, data from Waves I and II of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project are used to examine how older married, cohabiting, dating, and unpartnered individuals differ across multiple indicators of psychological well-being. Among men, cohabitors appear to fare similarly to the married, and better than daters and the unpartnered. In contrast, there are few differences in psychological well-being by partnership status for women.

Social Changes in Women's Roles, Families, and Generational Ties

There has been much speculation around the aging of the Baby Boom Generation because they were at the forefront of turbulent social changes in women's roles, marriage, and childbearing. This article addresses the ways in which population aging is intertwined with family change, and how intergenerational relations in later life are being transformed by social and demographic changes. Increasing diversity of family types and potentially weaker family ties raise the possibility of challenges to come in the next century.

Marital and Cohabiting Union Dissolution in Middle and Later Life

This study examined the timing and risk factors for subsequent union disruption among individuals who were in a marital or cohabiting union at age 45, focusing particularly on the role of prior union history and children. Using retrospective data on union histories from the 2007 Canadian General Social Survey ( n = 17,194), the results of life-table analysis revealed that individuals in cohabiting relationships faced a greater risk of union disruption in middle or later life than those who were married. Cox proportional hazard models showed that both union biography (duration, remarriage/repartnership) and family biography (children born inside/outside union, child age) influenced union dissolution through separation or divorce, but their impact differed depending on union type and gender. These findings suggest that when it comes to marriage and cohabitation, the middle and later years of life are neither a clear continuation nor a complete departure from earlier patterns.

Diverse Family Structures and the Care of Older Persons

Demographic and social trends lead to a variety of micro-level and internal structural contexts that influence caregiving in families with older members. The results of macro-level changes have received little focused attention in the aging literature, where much of the caregiving research has addressed issues within the context of traditional family structure. Yet the conventional nuclear family model is increasingly uncommon as new, pluralistic models of family life are emerging in contemporary society. The majority of elder care is provided by relatives, albeit with varying patterns of involvement and responsibility across family structures. Both conventional and pluralistic families face challenges in meeting the care needs of their oldest members, leaving some older adults at risk of having unmet needs. Additional research on family risk and resilience related to the care of older relatives is warranted, particularly with respect to pluralistic models of family life.

Family Formation Processes: Assessing the Need for a New Nationally Representative Household Panel Survey in the United States

The American family has undergone rapid transformation. Careful measurement attention to family formation is important because families are at the heart of numerous decisions, roles, and responsibilities with implications for understanding the well-being of families, adults and children. This paper considers whether there is a need for a new household panel study that addresses family formation. This paper consists of a review of the recent body of population-based, American surveys and finds a considerable gap in the ability to study the implications of families for the health and well-being of Americans. Earlier panel surveys used to assess family life anchored questions around marital events, but changes in family patterns require attention to a more diverse set of family forms. The paper concludes with recommendations for a multi-purpose panel study. The key challenge is to keep to pace with complexity and changes in American family life while at the same time maintaining a parsimonious set of survey questions.

Older Adults' Attitudes Toward Cohabitation: Two Decades of Change

OBJECTIVES

Our study tracks cohort change in the attitudes of adults aged 50 and older toward cohabitation from 1994 to 2012.

METHOD

We used data from the 1994, 2002, and 2012 waves of the General Social Survey to examine the roles of cohort replacement and intracohort change in the trend toward favorable cohabitation attitudes and to examine sociodemographic variation in patterns of support for cohabitation.

RESULTS

Support for cohabitation accelerated over time with nearly half (46%) of older adults reporting favorable attitudes toward cohabitation in 2012 versus just 20% in 1994. This shift in older adults' attitudes largely reflected cohort replacement rather than intracohort change. Some of the factors associated with later life cohabitation experience were linked to supportive attitudes.

DISCUSSION

Cohort succession is fueling the growing acceptance of cohabitation among older adults and coincides with the rapid growth in later life cohabitation that has occurred in recent decades.

"Not a replacement": emotional experiences and practical consequences of Israeli second couplehood stepfamilies constructed in old age

The increase in life expectancy enhances phenomena such as second couplehood in old age following widowhood or divorce as an alternative way of coping with changes that occur with aging. Research on the phenomenon has focused mainly on individual and dyadic perspectives of the repartnered. The aim of this article was to explore repartnering from the stepfamily's perspective, which has scarcely been studied. Nineteen Israeli stepfamilies (38 multigenerational families) were recruited using criterion sampling, of men who repartnered at age 65+ and women at 60+, with children and grandchildren from a lifelong marriage that ended in widowhood or divorce. We audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim 107 semi-structured, qualitative interviews with older partners, their adult children, and grandchildren. Analysis was based on grounded theory and dyadic analysis principles adapted to families. It showed how repartnering in old age changed the family structure, constructing complex stepfamilies, which require further study. Emotional experiences refer to repartnering being a replacement for couplehood but not for parenthood/grandparenthood. Practical consequences refer to "knowing their place" within the stepfamily and included the following subthemes: showing affection; participating in memorials for the deceased spouse; sharing, listening, and assisting. Findings are discussed regarding life course and family life cycle perspectives.

Time as a structuring condition behind new intimate relationships in later life

Although mobility in and out of intimate relationships has become more common in later life, it has been a neglected issue in social gerontology. In this article, we ask what characterises the formation of new intimate relationships in later life, and whether there are any specific conditions that separate these from relationships in earlier stages of the lifecourse. On the basis of qualitative interviews with 28 persons aged 63–91 who have established a new intimate heterosexual relationship after the age of 60 or who are dating singles, we argue that time constitutes such a central structuring condition. We discuss and theorise two aspects of time – post-(re)productive free time and remaining time – which have an important formative power on new late-in-life relationships. We argue that together these aspects form a central existential structure of ageing in many Western societies – the paradoxical condition of having lots of available free time but little time left in life – which, besides influencing new late-in-life relationships, might also be relevant to other aspects of and choices in later life.

Together and apart: a typology of re-partnering in old age

BACKGROUND

The human need for love, friendship, and physical contact, and the fear of loneliness do not diminish with age. Widowhood and late-life divorce and increased life expectancy are likely to lead to alternative relationships, such as re-partnering. The purpose of this paper is to explore interplays between emotional and physical components of re-partnering in old age.

METHODS

Theoretical sampling of 20 couples included men who re-partnered at the age of 65+ years and women at the age of 60+ years, following termination of lifelong marriages due to death or divorce. Living arrangements included married or unmarried cohabitation under the same roof or in separate homes. Forty semi-structured interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The couple was the unit of analysis.

RESULTS

Interplays between physical and emotional dimensions were examined using five abductive parameters derived from data analysis resulting in a fourfold typology of emotional and physical closeness/distance in re-partnering in old age: (1) living together (physically and emotionally); (2) living apart (physically) together (emotionally); (3) living together (physically) apart (emotionally); and (4) living apart (physically and emotionally).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings revealed types of partner relationships that are different from lifelong marriages. The typology could help professionals working with older persons regarding what to expect in re-partnering in old age and be included in developmental theories as an option in old age. A quantitative tool for research and therapy purposes, entitled The Re-partnering in Old Age Typology Scale (RPOAT Scale), based on abductive parameters, could be established for measuring re-partnering relationship quality and classifying re-partnering couples.

Repartnering After Widowhood

OBJECTIVES

This study estimates the sex-specific prevalence of repartnering after widowhood. The main objective is to examine the competing choice between nonmarital cohabitation and remarriage as well as repartnering differentials.

METHODS

The study uses data from the 2007 Canadian General Social Survey and life table methods to illustrate gender and regional differences in the cumulative proportion of people aged 45 and older who repartner after widowhood. Proportional hazard models are used to examine how factors such as socioeconomic resources, region, demographic characteristics, and health associate with the risk of repartnering and repartnering preferences.

RESULTS

Most repartnering after widowhood occurs within ten years of this event or not at all. Ten years after widowhood, about 7% of widows and 29% of widowers have formed a new union. For both widows and widowers, the rate of remarriage is twice as high as the rate of cohabitation. The exception to this is the province of Quebec, where cohabitation is a more prevalent choice of repartnering than remarriage. There is a weak association between socioeconomic resources and both the risk of cohabitation and remarriage.

DISCUSSION

Our results confirm that constraints in marriage markets appear to contribute to a gender gap in the prevalence of repartnering after widowhood. Though the widowed prefer remarriage over cohabitation as a repartnering choice, there are important regional differences in repartnering that reflect cultural norms in the social acceptance of cohabitation. Socioeconomic disincentives to marriage do not appear to push the widowed into cohabitation.

The intertwining of second couplehood and old age

Second couplehood in old age is a growing phenomenon alongside increases in life expectancy. Lately, a shift has occurred in that individual diversity of ageing is perceived to depend on the physical and social contexts in which older persons experience change. Thus, the purpose of the study on which this paper reports was to examine second couplehood in the context of old age and old age in the context of second couplehood using an existential-phenomenological theoretical orientation. Twenty couples were recruited using criterion-sampling: men aged 65+ and women aged 60+, with children and grandchildren from a lifelong marriage that had ended in widowhood or divorce, living in second couplehood – married or not – in separate houses or co-habitating. Forty individual semi-structured interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed according to phenomenological tradition. Five sub-themes emerged, demonstrating couplehood and old age intertwining: (a) enjoying life while still possible; (b) living with health-related issues; (c) relationships with adult children: autonomy versus dependency; (d) loneliness: living as a couple is better than living alone; (e) self-image: feeling young–feeling old. Findings support the existence of positive and negative aspects of old age. Our discussion suggests the need to replace perceptions of old age as either a negative burden or a positive asset towards a period of balancing between gains and losses. Furthermore, we acknowledge the role of second couplehood in older peoples’ wellbeing on the personal–micro level through love, the familial–mezzo level through care-giving and the social–macro level by reducing prejudice.

Dating Relationships in Older Adulthood: A National Portrait

Dating in later life is likely common, especially as the proportion of older adults who are single continues to rise. Yet there are no recent national estimates of either the prevalence or factors associated with dating during older adulthood. Using data from the 2005-2006 National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a nationally representative sample of 3,005 individuals ages 57-85, the authors constructed a national portrait of older adult daters. Roughly 14% of singles were in a dating relationship. Dating was more common among men than women and declined with age. Compared to non-daters, daters were more socially advantaged. Daters were more likely to be college educated and had more assets, were in better health, and reported more social connectedness. This study underscores the importance of new research on partnering in later life, particularly with the aging of the U.S. population and the swelling ranks of older singles.