Couple Relationships In The Middle And Later Years

What factors influence the nature and quality of today's older couple relationships, and what are the complex links between relationships and health? In this cutting-edge volume, the authors present the latest theoretical, methodological, and empirical perspectives in the field of middle-age and older couple relationships. The chapters cover a broad range of topics, including the impact of health concerns, loneliness, chronic disease management, couple negotiation of everyday tasks, coping across the lifespan, and the prevalence and visibility of nontraditional older couple relationships such as same-sex relationships and "living apart-together" relationships. Implications for couples therapy and policy are included.

Today's older couples often look and function differently than those of yesteryear. Lifespans have increased, while many health challenges remain. Retirement, spousal role equity, and family caregiving needs look different now, and cultural shifts have shaped the prevalence and visibility of non-traditional older relationships, such as same-sex relationships and ""living apart-together"" relationships. With such an increased variety in relationship forms and social contexts, what does the research say about quality? What factors influence the nature and quality of today's older couple relationships, and what are the complex links between relationships and health? In this cutting-edge book, the authors present the latest theoretical, methodological, and empirical perspectives in the field of middle-age and older couple relationships. The chapters cover a broad range of topics, including the impact of health concerns, loneliness, chronic disease management, couple negotiation of everyday tasks, and coping across the lifespan. Implications for couples therapy and policy are included. In short, the book makes a significant stride into understanding the strengths and challenges of older couples.

Directed towards researchers and practitioners in family studies and gerontology, this completely revised Second Edition of Family Relationships in Later Life provides an innovative new collection of research-based descriptions on family relations of older people. Each chapter summarizes existing literature on the topic and provides up-to-date original research. Topics addressed include: sibling relationships in later life; widowhood; ethnic differences; elder abuse and mistreatment; family care; and health problems.

Smile! It's not just the end of your marriage, it's the beginning of your second chance!Missy Benson has a two and a half carat diamond engagement ring with color grade H, VS2 clarity and a value of $36,000. It's absolutely gorgeous, practically flawless, and let's be honest, really big!But what the successful Chicago realtor doesn't have anymore is a husband. After 12 years of marriage, her husband, Paul, a handsome, wealthy attorney has devastated her by breaking up their marriage for Priscilla Sommerfeld, a young, personal trainer, who according to Missy's sassy assistant, J.J., looks more like a Las Vegas stripper than a fitness expert.Not sure what to do with her ring, and with no financial issues to worry about, Missy decides to put it up for sale on Craigslist. The price: 99 cents! The catch: She gets to pick the buyer. In essence, she's looking for the perfect guy, but not for herself. Her hope is to regain faith that good men do exist, and that marriages can last forever.Now referring to herself as "the divorced girl," Missy interviews dozens of young men who are vying for the huge ring. It's a contest that includes outrageous characters, hilarious and sentimental stories, and two finalists, both of whom Missy adores and who she must choose between. Then there's Parker Missoni, the sexiest contestant by far, who drives her crazy with his brutal honesty, and at the same time stops her heart with his deep brown eyes.Divorced Girl Smiling is the story of a woman's journey to do whatever it takes to heal herself from divorce. It's about acceptance, reflection, taking accountability for mistakes, and appreciating all of life's wonderful gifts. In other words, if you have the guts to put the past behind, admit your mistakes, embrace your future, and give love another chance, you will surely be a divorced girl smiling.

To begin new relationships in later life is increasingly common in large parts of the Western world. This timely book addresses the gap in knowledge about late life repartnering and provides a comprehensive map of the changing landscape of late life intimacy. Part of the Ageing in a Global Context series, the book examines the changing structural conditions of intimacy and ageing in late modernity. How do longer lives, changing norms and new technologies affect older people’s relationship careers, their attitudes to repartnering and in the formation of new relationships? Which forms do these new unions take? What does a new intimate relationship offer older men and women and what are the consequences for social integration? What is the role and meaning of sex? By introducing a gains-perspective the book challenges stereotypes of old age as a period of loss and decline. It also challenges the image of older people as conservative, and instead presents them as an avant-garde that often experiment with new ways of being together.

Is sex wasted on the young? Marj Thoburn thinks it might be. This complete guide to sex, loving and relationships for the 50s-80s age group is a positive, constructive and celebratory guide which suggests that life - and loving sex - BEGIN at 50+. Inside every older person is a young person trying to come to terms with ageing. This books looks at the physical and psychological changes that may present challenges to older couples and provides practical exercises and strategies for coping, and learning, together. For example: How do you maintain your self-esteem when your body stops responding the way it used to? What can you do if your partner seems more attracted to people who are younger than you? How do you begin a new relationship if you find yourself divorced, separated, widowed or single in later life? How do you begin to get to know each other again once the children have left home? Written with understanding and humour, and drawing on a wide range of case studies, this invaluable book offers a wealth of advice for those who want to keep improving the quality of their relationship - whatever their age.

A groundbreaking book--based on years of the same thorough research that made the "Dress For Success" books national bestsellers--about how women can statistically improve their chances of getting married.

This comprehensive, state-of-the-art textbook and reference volume in family gerontology reviews and critiques the recent theoretical, empirical, and methodological literature; identifies future research directions; and makes recommendations for gerontology professionals. This book is both an updated version of and a complement to the original Handbook of Families and Aging. The many additions include the most recent demographic changes on aging families, new theoretical formulations, innovative research methods, recent legal issues, and death and bereavement, as well as new material on the relationships themselves—sibling, partnered, and intergenerational relationships, for example. Among the brand-new topics in this edition are step-family relationships, aging families and immigration, aging families and 21st-century technology, and peripheral family ties. Unlike the more cursory summaries found in textbooks, the essays within Handbook of Families and Aging, Second Edition provide thoughtful, in-depth coverage of each topic. No other book provides such a comprehensive and timely overview of theory and research on family relationships, the contexts of family life, and major turning points in late-life families. Nevertheless, the contents are written to be engaging and accessible to a broad audience, including advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, and gerontology practitioners. Serious lay readers will also find this book highly informative about contemporary family issues.

Successful marriages are not an accident. A lasting marital relationship is the result of loving commitment, self-giving, intimacy, and respect for another person. It is a relationship in which a man and a woman grow together not only in body, but also in spirit. Grow Old Along with Me looks at the many elements that make a marriage more loving and fulfilling as two people grow older. In a mature relationship, spouses recognize and appreciate the good in their marriage, not only in the past, but right here and now. A mature couple is in a unique position to eliminate frustrations as they are drawn ever closer. Intimacy finds a new dimension -- a dimension that moves beyond the physical encounter. This new intimacy binds the couple in a deeper union as they move away from things that disrupt their relationship to become joined in spirit as well as body. Couples growing together in mature intimacy find it easier to adapt to change and to stay interested in each other and in their world. Complete with spousal discussion starters and sections relating to adult children and remarriage after the death of a spouse, Grow Old Along with Me is a celebration of the joys of marriage in the mature years. Book jacket.