title: Partner caregiving in older cohabiting couples.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Despite the rapidly increasing prevalence of cohabitation among older adults, the caregiving literature has exclusively focused on formally married individuals. Extending prior work on intra-couple care, this study contrasts frail cohabitors' patterns of care receipt from a partner to that of frail spouses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using nationally representative panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006), we estimate random effects cross-sectional times series models predicting frail cohabitors' likelihood of receiving partner care compared with their married counterparts'. Conditional on the receipt of intra-couple care, we also examine differences in marital and nonmarital partners' caregiving hours and caregiving involvement relative to other helpers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Net of sociodemographic, disability, and comorbidity factors, we find that cohabitors are less likely to receive partner care than married individuals. However, caregiving nonmarital partners provide as many hours of care as spouses while providing a substantially larger share of disabled respondents' care than marital partners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cohabitation and marriage have distinct implications for older adults' patterns of partner care receipt. This study adds weight to a growing body of research emphasizing the importance of accounting for older adults' nontraditional union forms and of examining the ramifications of cohabitation for older adults' well-being.
authors.affiliation: Center for Demography of Health and Aging, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. cnoel@ssc.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Claire M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Noël-Miller
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D012847:Single Person; D012944:Social Support