A. Peters et Ac. Liefbroer, BEYOND MARITAL-STATUS - PARTNER HISTORY AND WELL-BEING IN OLD-AGE, Journal of marriage and the family, 59(3), 1997, pp. 687-699
Applying a life course perspective to the relationship between well-be
ing and partner status suggests that the well-being of older adults is
not only influenced by their current marital status, but also by aspe
cts of their partner history. Life history data from a recent Dutch su
rvey are used to examine the relationship between partner history vari
ables and loneliness (n = 3,390). Older adults who are currently not i
nvolved in a partner relationship are lonelier than older adults with
a partner. Furthermore, loneliness increases with the number of union
dissolutions that older adults have experienced and decreases with the
time elapsed since the last dissolution. No differences in loneliness
are found between widowed and divorced older adults. The loss or lack
of a partner is more detrimental for males than for females. These di
fferences remain after controlling for age, health, network size, inco
me, and educational attainment. This suggests that it is difficult to
compensate for the lack or loss of relationship specific benefits of h
aving a partner, especially for males.