ABSTRACT
Most research on families in later life centers on increasing our understanding of the continuation and termination of long-term relationships. This chapter provides an overview of the existing research on dating and courtship in later life, concentrating on estimates of the number of older adults who are dating, social attitudes, differences between younger and older adults, the ways in which older people meet dating partners, predictors of dating, motives and functions of dating, and activities of dating. An extensive assessment of social attitudes toward later life dating is not easily found. Researchers have found differences between ways that widowed women meet men they merely date and ways they meet men they end up marrying. Activity level is important in meeting new people with whom to form intimate relationships. Dating activities of widows reported in Lopata include going out to dinner, going to movies and other public places, participating in or going to sports events, and going to each other’s homes.
