Union Transitions and Cohabitation among Older Adults

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的三十年里，美国未婚异性伴侣的数量急剧增加，从1970年的50万人上升到今天的500多万人。50岁以上的人有20多万人处于同居关系中。然而，关于同居的研究基本上忽略了老年人。这种遗漏至少有两个原因。首先，从人口统计学的角度来看，今天老年人的婚姻状况和历史比以前的老年人更加多样化;因此，随着年龄的增长，结婚的老年人逐渐减少，而同居的老年人将增加。其次，从理论的角度来看，同居可能具有独特的意义，在老年人（与年轻人）的生活过程中扮演着不同的角色。也就是说，进入同居联盟的动机可能与年轻人不同，因此老年人的联盟模式和动态可能不同。我们建议通过使用1998-2002年健康与退休研究（HRS）的纵向数据来研究50岁以上成年人之间同居联盟的过渡，以促进老年人同居的有限研究。目前的调查是由一个理论框架，结合生命历程和人口老龄化的观点。我们建议回答以下三个问题。谁是年长的同居者，他们与年长的已婚者和未婚者相比如何？哪些因素预示着会形成同居关系？哪些因素可以预测老年同居者从同居（通过婚姻或分居）的转变？通过记录同居的趋势和模式以及老年人之间结合形成和解体的预测因素，该项目将建立必要的基础，以激励对这些新出现的趋势及其对新一代老年人的影响进行大规模调查。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The number of unmarried opposite-sex couples in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the past three decades, climbing from 500,000 in 1970 to over 5 million today. More than t .2 million persons ages 50 and over are involved in cohabiting relationships. However, research on cohabitation has essentially ignored older adults. This omission is problematic for at least two reasons. First, from a demographic perspective, the union statuses and histories of today's older adults are more diverse than those of previous cohorts; consequently, as they age into the later years progressively fewer older persons will be married and more will be cohabiting. Second, from a theoretical standpoint, cohabitation likely has a unique meaning and plays a different role in the life course of older (versus younger) adults. That is, the motivations for entering a cohabiting union may differ from those of young adults and thus the union patterns and dynamics of older adults may be distinct. We propose to contribute to the limited research on cohabitation among older adults by using longitudinal data from the 1998-2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine transitions into and out of cohabiting unions among adults over age 50. The current investigation is guided by a theoretical framework that incorporates life course and demographic perspectives on aging. We propose to answer the following three questions. Who are older cohabitors and how do they compare to older marrieds and unpartnereds? What factors predict forming a cohabiting union? What factors predict older cohabitors union transitions out of cohabitation (either through marriage or separation)? By documenting the trends and patterns of cohabitation as well as the predictors of union formation and dissolution among older adults, this project will establish the groundwork necessary to motivate a large-scale investigation of these emerging trends and their consequences for a new generation of aging adults.