title: Couples' Social Careers in Assisted Living: Reconciling Individual and Shared Situations.
abstract: Despite important connections between relationships, health, and well-being, little is known about later-life couples' daily lives and experiences, especially those who are frail. Our aim was to advance knowledge by gaining an in-depth understanding of married and unmarried couples' intimate and social relationships in assisted living (AL) and by generating an explanatory theory.
  
  
  
  Using Grounded Theory Methods, we build on past research and analyze qualitative data from a 3-year mixed-methods study set in eight diverse AL settings located in the state of Georgia. Data collection included participant observation and informal and formal interviews yielding information on 29 couples, 26 married and 3 unmarried.
  
  
  
  Defined by their relationships with one another and those around them, couples' experiences were variable and involved a process of reconciling individual and shared situations. Analysis affirms and expands an existing typology of couples in AL. Our conceptual model illustrates the multilevel factors influencing the reconciliation process and leading to variation. Findings highlight the strengths and burdens of late-life couplehood and have implications for understanding these intimate ties beyond AL.
  
  
  
  Intimate and social relationships remain significant in later life. Strategies aimed at supporting couples should focus on individual and shared situations, particularly as couples' experience physical and cognitive decline across time.
authors.affiliation: The Gerontology Institute and Department of Sociology, Georgia State University, Atlanta. ckemp@gsu.edu.
authors.forename: Candace L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.affiliation: Division of General and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Wesley Woods Health Center at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Mary M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ball
authors.affiliation: Division of General and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Wesley Woods Health Center at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta Site, Birmingham/Atlanta Geriatric, Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), Georgia.
authors.forename: Molly M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Perkins
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D040561:Assisted Living Facilities; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D066296:Grounded Theory; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018454:Spouses
keywords: Assisted living facilities; Couples; Intimate relationships; Long-term care; Qualitative analysis: Grounded Theory; Social relationships