VARIATIONS IN RELATIONSHIPS ACCORDING TO PARTNER PERCEPTIONS: DATA FROM THE NSHAP PROJECT

Previous research suggests that romantic relationships are intertwined with aging well. We used data from 2,013 persons who reported having a romantic partner or spouse in the first wave of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) to examine how their perceptions of their relationships varied across relationship status, as well as a number of demographic variables and measures of health. The NSHAP interview included five indicators of relationship perceptions: time spent, perceptions of openness, ability to rely on, demands made from, and criticism from one’s partner. We used latent class analyses to examine unobserved heterogeneity in participants’ responses on these items. Our model fit analyses suggested a three class model provided the best fit. Class one (15.9%) was characterized by moderate responses on time spent with, demands from, and criticism from partner, while scoring low on being open with their partners and high on relying on their partners. Class two (13.3%) was characterized by scoring relatively low on all perceptions except relying on partner. Class three (70.8%) was characterized by high scores on all perceptions. We next examined how probabilities of class membership were related to relationship status, demographics, and health. We found significant differences across race, age, sex, marital status, relationship length, and health. We did not find significant differences in class membership by cohabitation status. In summary, these analyses helped us identify variations in relationships using participants’ perceptions of their relationships. We also found significant variations in relationship perceptions across several demographic variables and health.