Acceptance of Love and Remarriage Among Older Adults in the Philippines

Abstract

Objectives: Later-life re-partnership has been linked to healthy aging, but little is known about Philippine older adults’ perception of love and remarriage in older age. Methods: Using two nationally representative surveys on aging in the Philippines, we estimated the proportion of older adults reporting acceptance. Using weighted logistic regression, we assessed sociodemographic and health factors associated with acceptance as well as the relationship of this acceptance with social activity and health behaviors. Results: Only seventeen percent of respondents reported acceptance. Per multivariable analyses, unmarried men and married women reported acceptance, and acceptance was associated with increased social activity and smoking in men, less smoking in women, and more drinking in both genders. Discussion: Most older adults in the Philippines reported love and remarriage in old age as unacceptable. Through these results, we can understand how attitudes toward later-life relationship impact older adults’ health and well-being.

Keywords

Philippines love aging national survey remarriage

Background and Objectives

Although many studies have explored how negative ageism leads to worse health outcomes, few have explored “positive ageism” and its association with healthy aging. Positive ageism has been used as a broad umbrella term covering beliefs or attitudes toward aging that focuses on the benefits of aging (Levy et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2019). One qualitative European study showed how openness to falling and being in love within a re-partnership (living apart together, cohabitation, and remarriage) was a form of positive ageism that facilitated healthy aging by focusing on and encouraging vitality in older age (Koren, 2015). Additionally, love and remarriage can provide benefits—financial security, companionship to mitigate loneliness after a divorce or widowhood, social circle expansion, sexual fulfillment, etc.–—beyond positive ageism that contributes to healthy aging (Chiu & Ho, 2010; Cooney & Dunne, 2001; Davidson, 2001; Dykstra & de Jong-Gierveld, 2004; Koren, 2015). Thus, the effect of love and remarriage on healthy aging may result from the interplay of multiple factors, including positive ageism.

In the Philippines, where over 16% will be 60 years or older by 2050 (Aging population in the Philippines, 2017) and likely legalization of divorce (“An act instituting absolute divorce and dissolution of marriage in the Philippines,” 2020), the number of older adults remarrying could increase in the near future. Studies have shown that divorced older adults are more likely to repartner than their widowed counterparts (Brown et al., 2019; Vespa, 2012). In the Philippines, remarriage–—including living-in or consensual union—may be the main mode of re-partnership after divorce since older adults in the Philippines often hold more traditional beliefs regarding family, gender roles, and age-appropriate behavior: women stay at home and men work to financially support the family; children, especially daughters, are obliged to support aging parents (Cruz et al., 2019). Despite the increased likelihood of remarriage among older adults in the Philippines and a potential link between acceptance of later-life re-partnership and healthy aging, there have been no studies of Philippine older adults’ attitude toward love and remarriage in later life.

This study is the first nationally representative, quantitative study of older adults’ attitude toward love and remarriage in later life. Specifically, this study aims to: (1) quantify the level of acceptance of love and remarriage in older adults in the Philippines, (2) assess factors associated with such acceptance, and (3) assess how such acceptance is associated with social activity and health behaviors.

Methods

Sample

This study included data from the 2007 Philippine Study on Aging and the 2018 Longitudinal Study of Aging and Health in the Philippines. Both surveys were nationally representative samples of community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years and over in the Philippines. Samples from the two survey years were independent of each other. Respondents were selected using a multistage sampling design with three sampling units: the province, village (barangays), and the individual older adults. Trained interviewers administered questionnaires via face-to-face interviews in the predominant language of the region being surveyed. The 2007 survey had 3105 respondents, 94.4% of the initial sample; the 2018 survey had 5985 respondents, 94% of the initial sample. Both surveys were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of the Philippines. More details about the surveys can be found in (Cruz et al., 2019; 2016). This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Duke University.

Measures

Acceptance of love and remarriage

To assess acceptance of love and remarriage in older adults in the Philippines, respondents in the 2007 study were asked “It is acceptable for someone in their 60s or 70s to fall in love and (re)marry if they find a suitable partner” (agree or disagree). In 2018, respondents were asked two separate questions: “It is acceptable for someone in their 60s or older to fall in love” and “It is acceptable for someone in their 60s or older to (re)marry if they find a suitable partner” (agree or disagree). To parallel the wording in 2007, the two questions from 2018 were recoded into a single variable, so only respondents reporting both love and remarriage as acceptable were coded as agree. Stratified analyses where those who accepted love or remarriage were coded as agree did not yield significantly different results from those presented.

Sociodemographic and health variables

Sociodemographic variables included age, categorized into 5-year units starting at 60 years old, gender, marital status, place of residence, level of education, religious membership, and financial support from children. Marital status in 2007 was classified as never married, currently married/live-in, separated/divorced, widowed, and not sure; in 2018, live-in and currently married were split into independent categories, and annulled was included in the category separated/divorced. More than 90% of respondents in both surveys reported either being currently married/live-in or widowed. Given the slightly different response categories in 2007 and 2018 and the low percentage of respondents in categories outside currently married/live-in and widowed, marital status was recategorized as currently married (i.e., currently married or live-in respondents) versus others (never married, separated, divorced, widowed, or annulled). When analyses of the detailed marital status categories were compared with analyses using the simplified categories, there were no significant differences.

Place of residence was determined as urban or rural by the trained surveyors using definition employed by the Philippine Statistics Authority (Explanatory text, 2015). Level of education, recorded as the highest level of education attended before withdrawal or completion in the survey, was recoded as below high school and high school and above as most older Filipinos reported a relatively low education profile with elementary education as highest educational attainment (Cruz et al., 2019).

Religious membership was assessed by “Are you currently a member of any religious group or organization” (yes/no). Given that the majority of the Philippine population identified as Roman Catholic, active membership in a religious group was deemed to reflect the importance of religious activity more accurately than self-reported religious preference (Cruz et al., 2016).

Health variables included activities of daily living (ADL) and self-rated health. Activities of daily living consist of the following seven items: bathing, dressing, eating, standing and sitting, walking in house, walking outside, and toileting. Respondents were asked whether they experienced any difficulty performing each activity and to rate their own health on an ordinal scale ranging from very healthy to very unhealthy. Unpartnered older adults were more likely to report one or more ADL difficulties than partnered older adults in prior studies (Wright & Brown, 2016). Studies have also shown a correlation between poorer self-rated health and decreased likelihood of later-life re-partnership (Brown et al., 2019; Rapp, 2018; Vespa, 2012). We first examined the distribution of ADL and general health and assessed the bivariable relationships with acceptance. For simplicity, we dichotomized as follows: no difficulty versus having at least one ADL difficulty, average health or above/unhealthy (Dupre et al., 2017; Xu et al., 2019).

Prior studies have described children’s disapproval of remarriage as a barrier to later-life re-partnership (Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1991). Since the survey did not include children’s attitude toward later-life love and remarriage, preliminary analyses assessed the correlations between acceptance of love and remarriage and having children, satisfaction with level of contact with children, care of grandchildren, and financial support from children. Only financial support from children was significantly associated with acceptance. Financial support from children was coded as: receive financial support from children, have children but do not receive financial support from them, or do not have children.

Social activity and health behaviors

Social activity was originally reported on an ordinal scale in response to “attend social activities (i.e., going together with friends, family, or neighbors, going out to eat, walking for pleasure, attend parties, fiestas, etc.)” (every day, several times/week, about once a week, about once a month, a few times a year, never, and not applicable). This variable was dichotomized into a few times a year or less versus at least once a month based on multinomial regression analysis that showed a significant difference between these two categories. Health behavior status at the time of survey was determined by respondents’ response to “do you currently smoke cigarettes/cigar?” and “do you currently drink alcohol?” (yes/no). Variable inclusion in the analyses was based on prior literature on factors associated with dating and remarriage (Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1991; Mehta, 2002; Schneider et al., 1996).

Analysis

All statistical analyses were conducted using Stata version 16 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX). Given the similarity between the 2007 and 2018 survey questions, the two surveys were merged into a single dataset. When separate analyses were performed to compare the two surveys, the results paralleled those from the merged dataset. In Table 1, the prevalence of acceptance of love in older adults in the Philippines, level of social activity, self-reported health behaviors, and sociodemographic and health variables were all quantified as frequency and percentage using weighted responses.

Table 1.

Demographics and Characteristics of Older Adults in the Philippines in 2007 and 2018.

	2007 (n = 3105)	2018 (n = 5985)	2007 and 2018 (n = 9090)
	%	%	%
Acceptance of love and remarriage	18.4	16.3	17.1
Age, years
60–64	26.4	19.9	22.1
65–69	25	16.1	19.1
70–74	22	23.1	22.7
75–79	12.2	16.1	14.8
80–84	8.5	14.8	12.6
85+	5.9	10.1	8.7
Male	41.1	36.1	37.8
Currently married	55.6	40.5	45.6
Urban	48.8	43.3	45.2
High school education or above	29.4	31.2	30.6
Involved in religious group	17.8	12.5	14.3
At least one ADL difficulty	15.9	23.4	20.9
Average health or above	67.3	54.9	59.2
Receives financial support from child
No, has kids	14.9	66.5	48.9
No, no kids	5.6	5.1	5.3
Yes, has kids	94.4	28.4	45.9
Social activity
Few times a year or less	80.5	69.5	73.2
At least once a month	17.6	27.9	24.4
Currently smoking	26.2	13.4	17.8
Currently drinking	27.7	25.2	26

Note. ADL = activity of daily living. Missing values accounted for in percentages but not shown. Percentages are adjusted for weights specific to survey years.

Differences in acceptance of love and remarriage in later life based on sociodemographic and health behavior variables were then assessed using the Pearson chi-squared test. Results not shown but can be provided on request. Significant variables were further explored using multivariable, weighted, logistic regression to identify characteristics associated with acceptance of love and remarriage in later life. List-wise deletion was used to address missing variables as percent of missing across all study covariates was below 1%. Due to the interrelationship between gender and marital status, an interaction effect between gender and marital status was assessed (Shapiro & Gebreselassie, 2014). Weighted logistic regression was also used to assess how acceptance was associated with social activity and health behaviors–—potential interaction between gender and acceptance of love was included in this latter model (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1995). All tests were considered statistically significant at p < .05.

Results

Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the study sample (n = 9090). Only 17% of the respondents perceived love and remarriage in the 60s and 70s as acceptable, with little change from 2007 (18.4%) to 2018 (16.3%). Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73.2%) reported having social activities few times a year or less. Most did not smoke or drink, with 17.8% smoking and 26.0% drinking. The median age of the study sample was 71 years (IQR = 65–78), 62.2% of the respondents were women, and almost half were currently married (45.6%). Distributions across many study variables were similar between the 2007 and 2018 data. In the 2018 data, acceptance of love and acceptance of remarriage were asked as two separate questions. To assess possible differences in older adults’ views of love compared to their views of remarriage, we quantified acceptance of love and remarriage in 2018 separately and found 31% reporting acceptance of love and 21% reporting acceptance of remarriage.

Table 2 shows the results from the bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models on factors associated with acceptance of love and remarriage in 60s and 70s. In the multivariable model, respondents who were men, were currently married, had greater than high school education, reported no ADL difficulties, and who had children but did not receive financial support from them were more likely to report acceptance of love and remarriage in older age (p < .05). Although not statistically significant, acceptance declined with age. When the interaction between gender and marital status was further assessed, among men, those who were unmarried were more accepting (predicted probability [PP] = .35, 95 CI% [.31–.38], p < .001) than those who were currently married (PP = .27, [.25–.29], p < .001) (Figure 1). However, the opposite was observed in women, where married female respondents were more accepting (PP = .15, [.13–.17], p < .001) compared to those who were unmarried (PP = .11, [.10–.12], p < .001). In the sensitivity analysis, we assessed these associations in the 2007 and 2018 survey data separately, and this yielded similar results as those in Table 2.

Table 2.

Factors Associated With Acceptance of Love and Remarriage in 2007 and 2018 (Logistic Regression).

	Unadjusted	Adjusted + Interaction
	OR [95% CI]	OR [95% CI]
Age, years
60–64	Reference	Reference
65–69	.85 [.71–1.01]	.90 [.75–1.07]
70–74	.83 [.70–1.00]*	.93 [.78–1.12]
75–79	.68 [.55–.84]***	.81 [.65–1.01]
80–84	.71 [.56–.89]**	.96 [.75–1.23]
85+	.59 [.44–.81]**	.78 [.56–1.08]
Gender
Female	Reference	Reference
Male	3.05 [2.70–3.43]***	4.34 [3.63–5.19]***
Marital status
Currently not married	Reference	Reference
Currently married	1.50 [1.33–1.69]***	1.41 [1.17–1.70]***
Education level
High school education or below	Reference	Reference
High school education or above	1.31 [1.16–1.47]***	1.24 [1.09–1.40]*
Involved in religious group
No	Reference	Reference
Yes	.91 [.78–1.07]	1.01 [.86–1.19]
ADL
No ADL difficulties	Reference	Reference
At least one ADL difficulty	.67 [.57–.80]***	.80 [.67–.96]*
General health
Unhealthy	Reference	Reference
Average health or above	1.15 [1.01–1.31]*	1.07 [.93–1.22]
Year
2007	Reference	Reference
2018	1.00 [.98–1.01]	.98 [.97–1.00]*
Receives financial support from child
No, has kids	Reference
No, no kids	1.59 [1.28–1.98]***	1.63 [1.28–2.09]***
Yes, has kids	.74 [.65–.84]***	.69 [.59–.80]***
Gender#Marital status		.50 [.39–.63]***

Note. ADL: activity of daily living. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***.001 < p; I.^×interaction term; adjusted for age, gender, marital status, education level, ADL, general health, year of survey, interaction between gender and marital status, and financial support from children. Weighted values. (n = 8056). ADL = activity of daily living.

Figure 1.

Probability of acceptance of love and remarriage by gender and marital status.

Table 3 shows the association of acceptance of love and remarriage with social activity. In the adjusted model, acceptance (yes) and gender (men) were associated with increased social activity. Among men, those who reported acceptance were more likely to engage in social activity (PP = .27, [.24–.31], p < .001). There was no association between acceptance and social activity in women (Figure 2).

Table 3.

Association of Acceptance of Love and Remarriage With Social Activity (Logistic Regression).

	Unadjusted	Adjusted
	OR [95% CI]	OR [95% CI]
Acceptance of love and remarriage	1.15 [1.01–1.30]*	.99 [.81–1.22]
Gender
Female	Reference	Reference
Male	.88 [.79–.98]*	.80 [.69–.92]*
Acceptance × male		1.36 [1.04–1.79]*

Note. *p < .05.^×interaction term; adjusted for age, gender, marital status, region, membership in religious organization, ADL, general health, education level, year of survey, interaction between love and gender, and financial support from children. Weighted values. (n = 7936). ADL = activity of daily living.

Figure 2.

Probability of social activity by gender and acceptance of love and remarriage.

Table 4 shows the association of acceptance of love and remarriage with health behaviors, smoking, and drinking. Specifically, men who reported acceptance were more likely to smoke than men who did not report acceptance (PP = .30, [.26–.33], p < .001 vs. PP = .29, [.26–.31], p < .001) (Figure 3). Women who accepted love and remarriage were less likely to smoke (PP = .07, [.05–.09], p < .001) than women who disagreed with love and remarriage. For both men and women, acceptance was associated with increased drinking (.21 vs. .13 in women, .49 vs. .44 in men) (Figure 4).

Table 4.

Association of Acceptance of Love and Remarriage With Health Behaviors (Smoking and Drinking) (Logistic Regression).

	Unadjusted (smoke)	Adjusted (smoke)	Unadjusted (drink)	Adjusted (drink)
	OR [95% CI]	OR [95% CI]	OR [95% CI]	OR [95% CI]
Acceptance of love and remarriage	1.36 [1.19–1.57]***	.65 [.47–.91]*	2.07 [1.84–2.33]***	1.67 [1.35–2.08]***
Gender
Female	Reference	Reference	Reference	Reference
Male	1.75 [1.55–1.97]***	3.70 [3.14–4.33]***	5.09 [4.60–5.69]***	5.15 [4.45–5.97]***
Acceptance × gender		1.62 [1.11–2.36]*		.73 [.56–.96]*

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***.001 < p; I: ^×interaction term; adjusted for age, gender, marital status, region, membership in religious organization, ADL, general health, education level, year of survey, financial support from child, and interaction between love and gender (only for smoking). Weighted values. Smoke n = 8056 and drink n = 8054. ADL = activity of daily living.

Figure 3.

Probability of smoking by gender and acceptance of love and remarriage.

Figure 4.

Probability of drinking by gender and acceptance of love and remarriage.

Discussion

Summary of Results

Only 17% of older adults aged 60 years and over reported acceptance of love and remarriage in the 60s and 70s, with little change from 2007 to 2018. Acceptance was greater in men, those with higher than high school education, those without ADL difficulties, and those who did not receive financial support from their children. Additionally, acceptance varied with marital status (see below). We had hypothesized that acceptance as a form of positive ageism would correlate with healthy aging, but the relationships between acceptance and health behaviors, smoking and drinking, and social activity were not completely unequivocal.

Variability in Acceptance of Love and Remarriage

Similarly low proportions of intent or desire to remarry among older adults have been observed in China, Singapore, and the United States (Chiu & Ho, 2010; Mehta, 2002; Vespa, 2012). Barriers to remarriage included self-perceived, age-related stereotypes that older adults are asexual and uninterested in intimate relationships, and familial disapproval—especially those of children (Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1991; Mehta, 2002; Osmani et al., 2018). These barriers to remarriage are present in the Philippines, where older age is seen as a period of shouldering familial responsibilities and where living arrangement for older adults is predominantly co-residence with children (Cruz et al., 2016; Valdez et al., 2013). Thus, the same barriers to acceptance of remarriage in older age in prior studies are also likely important in the Philippines.

Additionally, there was little change in acceptance between 2007 and 2018 (18.4%–16.3%, respectively). Sensitivity analyses of 2007 and 2018 data separately showed similar results, indicating that ageist barriers against acceptance to love and remarriage in older age may not have changed even after 11 years. With the growing older adult population in the Philippines, as well as likely legalization of divorce in the near future, identifying these barriers should be of interest.

Compared to remarriage, older adults in our study expressed more acceptance of love in older age in the 2018 survey year. Smaller, qualitative studies have shown that older adults are more accepting of love than remarriage in older age (Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1991; Davidson, 2001; Koren, 2015; Moore & Sailor, 2018). This difference in acceptance of love and remarriage could be due to perceived responsibilities associated with remarriage (i.e., caregiving and financial responsibilities) but not with love. Despite this observed difference, given that only a minority of our study sample reported acceptance of love and remarriage, the limitations of the survey design between 2007 and 2018, and analogous findings when acceptance of love and remarriage were analyzed separately using the 2018 data, the term acceptance subsumes both acceptance of love and remarriage throughout the remainder of the discussion. Results from analyses of acceptance of love and acceptance of remarriage as separate variables in 2018 are not presented but can be provided on request.

Factors Associated With Acceptance of Love and Remarriage

Consistent with prior studies, more men overall accepted love and remarriage than women (Davidson, 2002; Mehta, 2002; Van Den Hoonaard, 2002; Vespa, 2012). Women’s social well-being is influenced by social interactions outside of marriage rather than prior marital history (Dykstra & de Jong-Gierveld, 2004). Thus, women can find social connections through relationships outside of marriage. Unlike women, men predominantly derive social connection through marriage, resulting in greater dependence on marriage for social well-being. This greater influence of marriage on men’s social well-being could explain why men report overall higher acceptance of love and remarriage compared than women who can fulfill social needs in relationships outside marriage.

Within men, unmarried men reported more acceptance than married men. Men derive significant social well-being from marriage, and many unmarried men report a desire or willingness to remarry (Dykstra & de Jong-Gierveld, 2004). However, this acceptance of remarriage is highly dependent on prior marital history: those who experienced singlehood due to widowhood report the greatest loneliness (Dykstra & de Jong-Gierveld, 2004). In our study, given that the majority of unmarried men were widowers (80% in 2007; 77% in 2018), the higher acceptance observed in unmarried men than married men could be associated with this emotional loneliness.

In contrast to unmarried men, unmarried women reported lower acceptance than married women. Women report greater caregiving burden than men, and widows often perceive caregiving responsibility as the reason for not remarrying (Barusch & Spaid, 1989; Van Den Hoonaard, 2002). In our study, given that the majority (i.e., 85% in 2007 and 88% in 2018) of unmarried women were widows, the lower acceptance reported by unmarried women could be associated with perceived caregiving responsibilities in a remarriage.

Older adults who received financial support from their children had a lower probability of reporting acceptance of love and remarriage in older age. Prior literature shows a complex relationship between children and attitude toward later-life re-partnership: length of time from partner’s death, historical relationship with the older adult, and older adult gender impact older adults’ perception of re-partnership in later life (Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1991; Carr & Boerner, 2013; Vespa, 2012). Older adults receiving financial support from children may be less accepting of love and remarriage in later life due to fear of financial instability if their children disapprove of re-partnership. Although the percentage of older adults receiving financial support from children was lower in 2018 than 2007 (Table 1), separate analyses of 2007 and 2018 data showed parallel results to those from the merged dataset.

Association of Love and Remarriage With Social Activity

Among men, acceptance was associated with more social activity. We found that unmarried men were more likely to report acceptance of love and remarriage in older age. These men, who are unmarried and open to love and remarriage in older age, may be actively looking for partners through social activities. Furthermore, since men derive social well-being from their marriage, unmarried men may engage in social activities more frequently to achieve the same level of social well-being experienced in a marriage.

Acceptance of love and remarriage was not associated with social activity in women. Since women often derive social well-being from relationships outside of marriage, perception of love and remarriage may not strongly influence the non-partnership social networks women may have established (Dykstra & de Jong-Gierveld, 2004).

Association of Love and Remarriage With Health Behaviors

Acceptance of love and remarriage in older age was associated with more smoking, majority smoking a pack a day or less, in men but less smoking in women. A study observed that older adults who reported stronger perceptions of control over negative consequences of aging (those with positive ageism) have increased smoking and drinking as potential coping behaviors (Villiers-Tuthill et al., 2016). Similarly, in our study, men who reported acceptance, positive ageism, were more likely to be smokers. However, women who reported acceptance were less likely to be smokers. According to the United Nations Development Program, social inequity for women is prevalent in the Philippines (UNDP, 2019). As a result, women may experience more stigma than men, which leads to less smoking despite acceptance of love and remarriage in older age.

Acceptance of love and remarriage in older age was associated with more drinking, majority drinking less than once a month. Not only is drinking used as a coping behavior to counteract the negative consequences of aging, but it is also often used as a facilitator for social engagement (Kelly et al., 2018; Villiers-Tuthill et al., 2016). Therefore, the association between acceptance and drinking could be due to the higher level of social activity in individuals who report acceptance.

Although greater acceptance is associated with unhealthy behaviors (i.e., smoking in men and drinking in men and women), reported levels of smoking and drinking are low: amount of smoking is less than a pack a day and amount of drinking is less than once a month, much below the safe drinking guidelines implemented by the Philippine government: one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men (Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos: A prescription to good nutrition, 2012). However, regardless of the frequency of drinking and smoking, both behaviors can have a deleterious impact on older adult health. Thus, for those who smoke and drink, health education encouraging moderate drinking and smoking cessation should be implemented to ensure healthy aging. Since acceptance is associated with more social activities, and those with increased social activity also have increased smoking and drinking, pamphlets and flyers in public locations where older adults frequent may have the most impact in reaching older adults with reported drinking and smoking.

Strengths and Limitations

In the Philippines, where there have been relatively few studies on the social aspects of aging, this study is the first to assess the acceptance of love and remarriage in the elderly. This study was based on two large, nationally representative surveys, allowing for the assessment of changes from 2007 to 2018. Rigorous recruitment design and follow-up ensured that even remote areas of the country were accounted for in the results. Therefore, the findings should generalize to the general Filipino older adult population. It also allowed for the assessment of several social and behavioral outcomes.

The study also had limitations. First, the individuals surveyed in 2007 were not followed up, but rather, a new sample was surveyed in 2018—this limits our ability to assess the longitudinal relationships of how acceptance of love and remarriage impacts social and health behaviors over time. The repeated cross-sectional design implies that any associations found have to be interpreted with caution.

Future work could assess acceptance of love and remarriage separately to identify differences in associated older adult demographics and health behaviors. Furthermore, using marriage records rather than self-reported acceptance of remarriage could assess reliability of self-reported acceptance as an indicator for older adults’ decisions to remarry in later life. Our indicator of ageism was relatively simple: Was love and remarriage in old age acceptable? Future studies can use more sophisticated measures of attitudes not only to love and marriage but also to other aspects of ageism. Additionally, future work can also focus on distinguishing acceptance of love and remarriage toward the self and others.

Conclusion/Implications

This study is the first to assess acceptance of love and remarriage in the Philippines as a potential positive aspect of ageism and in the context of healthy aging. Only a small proportion of older adults in the Philippines are accepting of love and remarriage in old age, and there was little change observed from 2007 to 2018. This acceptance was higher among unmarried men, married women, individuals with high school education, those without ADL difficulties, and those who did not receive financial support from their children. Furthermore, acceptance of love and remarriage was significantly related to three common indicators of healthy aging: social activity (more activity in men) and health behaviors (i.e., more smoking in men and drinking in men and women). Our study starts to explore the complexities of ageism; a single ageist belief, namely, attitude toward love and remarriage in older age, is associated with gender, marital status, social activity, and health behaviors (smoking, drinking, and social activities). As older adults often experience family changes in later life, the findings contribute to an understanding of how attitudes toward later-life relationship impact older adults’ health and well-being.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The 2007 PSOA survey collection was supported by a grant obtained by the Nihon University Population Research Institute from the “Academic Frontier” Project for Private Universities: matching fund subsidy from MEXT, 2006–2010. The 2018 LSAHP survey was made possible with funding support of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. We gratefully acknowledge the support from Christian Joy Cruz, Mark Ryan Paguirigan, Maria Karlene Shawn Cabaraban, Dr Ashley Price, Dr Samantha Kaplan, and Dr Anh Tran.

ORCID iD

Ju Young Kim

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