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Maria Karlene Shawn I Cabaraban, Department of Sociology, University of Vienna
Grace Cruz, University of the Philippines Population Institute
Christian Joy P. Cruz, University of the Philippines
Mark Ryan Paguirigan, University of the Philippines Population Institute
Yasuhiko Saito, Nihon University
Marriage is a significant factor affecting the well-being of older people. The current study utilizes the baseline data of the Longitudinal Study of Ageing and Health in the Philippines (LSAHP) to examine gender differentials in marriage patterns and attitudes toward love and marriage and assess how their current marital status relates to loneliness. Results show that almost all older Filipinos have been married at some point in their life. Older males are twice as likely to be currently married to or living-in with a partner relative to females, who are mostly widowed. Most ever-married older Filipinos have been in union only once in their lifetime. Of those who remarried, more of them are in informal rather than legal unions. Only few OPs express acceptance remarriage in older ages. Why is there a reluctance towards romantic relationships and remarriage in old age and to what extent do these associate with feelings of loneliness? Multiple regression analyses reveal differential patterns in loneliness across marital status group across genders with older widowers showing a higher level of loneliness relative to their currently married counterparts. Older women show a different picture with no apparent differences in the level of loneliness across marital status groups.
Keywords: Family demography, Health and morbidity, Demographic and social surveys, Older adults