Understanding Age-Related Changes in Relationship Maintenance Strategies

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A wealth of research indicates that high quality romantic relationships allow individuals to thrive both emotionally and physically. In fact, the impact of close relationships on health has been shown to be larger than the impact of a variety of negative health behaviors, such as smoking, excessive drinking, and obesity. Unfortunately, longer life expectancies and high divorce rates have contributed to a new social reality in which older adults (i.e., age 60+) increasingly find themselves unpartnered and searching for companionship. Despite these societal trends, research on how older adults form and maintain satisfying new romantic relationships is scarce. Although the close relationships research has much to say regarding the relationship processes that create a happier, healthier relationship, this literature has focused overwhelmingly on relationship formation in young adults, leaving open questions regarding the generalizability of these findings to an older population. Similarly, although the aging literature has developed influential theories about age-related changes in interpersonal skills, applications of these ideas to the romantic domain have focused on older adults in longstanding marriages (e.g., 20+ years), and thus may not extrapolate to newly-formed romantic relationships. Thus, the proposed research is designed to fill this gap, and will test if there are potential age-related changes in the way individuals navigate the inevitable ups and downs of a new romantic relationship. Specifically, the goal of the current proposal is to examine whether the life experience that comes with age facilitates positive and constructive responses when relationship conflicts arise. Integrating insights from both the aging and the close relationships literatures suggests that the answer to this question may depend on the relational context. Although the increases in socioemotional expertise that come with age should equip older adults with enhanced ability to successfully manage relationship challenges in longstanding relationships, older adults' advantage over younger adults may diminish in the context of newly-formed dating relationships. Efforts to minimize relationship conflict often prove more difficult in the early stages of relationship development; unfortunately, when relationship conflicts are not effectively averted, older adults tend to be more vulnerable than younger adults to the emotional and physical costs such challenges can bring. Thus, the current project aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of relationship maintenance efforts across the lifespan through a multi-method study comparing the maintenance strategies of older adults in longstanding marriages, older adults in newly-formed romantic relationships, younger adults in longstanding relationships, and younger adults in newly-formed romantic relationships, as well as the implications of these strategies for emotional and physical well-being. Results from this study will be informative for improving happiness and health throughout the lifespan.