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COMMENTARY: CHANGED GENDER ROLES AND THEIR IMPACT ON MARITAL SUPPORT AND SATISFACTION

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The Many Faces of Health, Competence and Well-Being in Old Age
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Abstract

Long-term marriage is a rather new phenomenon in our society. If only a few decades ago “golden weddings” (50 years of marriage) were rare happenings, this is not the case any longer. Due to longer life expectancy, today’s elderly couples have the perspective of a partnership, which may span five to six decades. These cohorts married at a relatively young age (compared to today’s young persons) and were raised according to a rather strong value system in which divorce or separation were very seldomly used as a means of solving marital problems. Objective divorce barriers (e.g. financial dependency for women) as well as subjective ones (strong family values, religious convictions) are possible main reasons, which is why the large majority of today’s elderly couples are still together and are now facing this totally new and challenging experience—the experience of long-term marriage (Fooken, 2002).

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PERRIG-CHIELLO, P. (2006). COMMENTARY: CHANGED GENDER ROLES AND THEIR IMPACT ON MARITAL SUPPORT AND SATISFACTION. In: Wahl, HW., Brenner, H., Mollenkopf, H., Rothenbacher, D., Rott, C. (eds) The Many Faces of Health, Competence and Well-Being in Old Age. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4138-1_10

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