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This article develops a series of hypotheses about the long-term effects of one's history of marriage, divorce, and widowhood on health, and it tests those hypotheses using data from the Health and Retirement Study. We examine four dimensions of health at mid-life: chronic conditions, mobility limitations, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms. We find that the experience of marital disruption damages health, with the effects still evident years later; among the currently married, those who have ever been divorced show worse health on all dimensions. Both the divorced and widowed who do not remarry show worse health than the currently married on all dimensions. Dimensions of health that seem to develop slowly, such as chronic conditions and mobility limitations, show strong effects of past marital disruption, whereas others, such as depressive symptoms, seem more sensitive to current marital status. Those who spent more years divorced or widowed show more chronic conditions and mobility limitations.

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.

Cohabitation among adults over age 50 is rising rapidly, more than doubling from 1.2 million in 2000 to 2.75 million in 2010. A small literature provides a descriptive portrait of older cohabitors, but no study has investigated transitions into and out of cohabitation during later life. Drawing on demographic and life course perspectives, the authors developed a framework for conceptualizing later life union behaviors. Using data from the 1998–2006 Health and Retirement Study, they estimated discrete-time event-history models predicting union formation (i.e., cohabitation or marriage) among older unmarried individuals (N = 3,736) as well as transitions to either marriage or separation among older cohabitors (N = 377). Those who formed a union were as likely to be in a cohabiting relationship as a marriage. Older adult cohabiting unions were quite stable and unlikely to culminate in either marriage or separation. During later life, cohabitation appears to operate as a long-term alternative to marriage.

Although the meanings and rates of being married, divorced, separated, never-married, and widowed have changed significantly over the past several decades, we know very little about historical trends in the relationship between marital status and health. Our analysis of pooled data from the National Health Interview Survey from 1972 to 2003 shows that the self-rated health of the never-married has improved over the past three decades. Moreover, the gap between the married and the never married has steadily converged over time for men but not for women. In contrast, the self-rated health of the widowed, divorced, and separated worsened over time relative to the married, and the adverse effects of marital dissolution have increased more for women than for men. Our findings highlight the importance of social change in shaping the impact of marital status on self-reported health and challenge long-held assumptions about gender, marital status, and health.

Previous research on the association between parenthood and life satisfaction has shown that parents of minor children are not more satisfied with their lives than childless people. This study addressed the question of why children do not enhance their parents' life satisfaction. A major objective of this study was to determine whether and to what extent the costs of raising children act as suppressors of life satisfaction. The empirical analysis applied fixed-effects models and used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1994–2010, N = 16,021). The 3 primary findings of this study were that (a) parenthood by itself has substantial and enduring positive effects on life satisfaction; (b) these positive effects are offset by financial and time costs of parenthood; and (c) the impact of these costs varies considerably with family factors, such as the age and number of children, marital status, and the parents' employment arrangements.

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.

Background Depression has become a challenging public health problem, and the loss of a spouse is one of the main causes of depression in older adults. Social participation and psychological resilience are protective factors that reduce depressive symptoms in adults. The purpose of this study was to explore the influences of social participation and psychological resilience on the depression of Chinese widowed older adults. Methods We carried out a cross-sectional study on 790 community-dwelling widowed older adults in Shaanxi, China, in 2019. A structured face-to-face interview was used to collect data. We used the ordinary least squares model (OLS), the generalized propensity score matching (GPSM) and the mediation model to test the relationship between social participation, psychological resilience and depression. Results We find a U-shaped relationship between social participation and depression, with the increase in social participation scores, the average depression level decreased and then increased. The psychological resilience of the widowed older adults was negatively associated with depression. The higher their psychological resilience, the lower their depression level. Among the four factors of psychological resilience, factor 2 (optimism and positive acceptance of change) and factor 3 (secure relationships and tolerance of negative affect) of psychological resilience were protective factors for depression after adjusting for demographic variables and physical health conditions. Psychological resilience plays a mediating role, as evident in factor 2 and factor 3 mediating the relationship between social participation and depression. Conclusion An appropriate level of social participation will relieve the depression of widowed older adults. Social participation can reduce the depression level of widowed older adults by improving their psychological resilience. Community and family could reduce depression by intervening in the social participation of widowed older adults. Active social participation is crucial because it has a protective and resilient impact, which can help people recover from the stress of losing a spouse.

The one-person household (OPH) is the fastest-growing type of household in many regions of the world, but no systematic work on it has been done outside of Europe and North America. This special collection consists of ten articles that examine the living-alone phenomenon in Asia. This paper summarizes their findings, highlights unique features found in Asia, and discusses the implications of the increase in OPH in Asia for individuals' well-being and societies' resource distribution. Census data are used for an international comparison of the prevalence of one-person households. The papers reveal vast heterogeneity across regions and within nations. While widows remains a major group of OPH, the rising prevalence of OPH in Asia is mainly fueled by the increase of young urban adults who live alone as a consequence of delayed or declining marriage, increasing divorce, and increasing geographic mobility. Many of them are working class individuals or migrant workers. The impact of living alone varies by cultural, demographic, and policy contexts. The papers identify groups that are potentially vulnerable to social isolation and financial distress and challenge the generally negative stereotypes of the OPH living arrangement. OPH will continue to increase in Asia in the next few decades due to the rapid aging trend, declining marriage and fertility rates, and increase in divorce and migration. More theoretical development and empirically-based work is needed to understand the complexity and impact of such a living arrangement.

Using administrative data on all adult children living in The Netherlands age 30-40 and their parents (N = 1,999,700), we investigated the extent to which situations and events associated with the support needs and privacy needs of either generation determine intergenerational coresidence and the transition to coresidence. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that both generations' support needs increased the likelihood of coresidence and of a move of the generation in need into the other's home. Turning to privacy needs, we found that coresidence and the transition to coresidence was less likely when a partner or stepparent was present and more likely when the adult child was a never-married single parent.

Objective This study examines the long‐observed marital advantage in happiness during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background The COVID‐19 pandemic may have altered the marital advantage in happiness due to changes in social integration processes. However, this has not been explored in previous studies. Method Data were from the COVID‐19 substudy of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 2622). A series of regressions were estimated to understand marital status differences in pandemic happiness and changes in relationships with nonresident family and friends. Karlson–Holm–Breen mediation analysis was conducted to examine whether relationships with nonresident family and friends explained the marital association with pandemic happiness. Results From pre‐pandemic to pandemic, married respondents experienced a greater increase in unhappiness than unmarried counterparts, narrowing happiness gaps. However, unmarried individuals, including cohabiting, divorced, widowed, and never married individuals, continued to report higher levels of unhappiness during the pandemic than married peers. These differences primarily stemmed from pre‐pandemic happiness. After controlling for pre‐pandemic happiness, cohabiting, widowed, and never married older adults did not significantly differ from their married counterparts in reporting unhappiness during the pandemic. In contrast, divorced individuals remained consistently more unhappy than married individuals during the pandemic, mainly due to deteriorated relationship quality with nonresident family. Conclusion During a global crisis, it is crucial for policymakers, healthcare providers, and researchers to develop innovative interventions to promote happiness and healthy aging among all older adults, paying special attention to those who are divorced.