THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF OLDER ADULTS IN SAME-SEX COUPLES: THEIR CHARACTERISTICS, RELATIONSHIP TRANSITIONS, AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

Despite major legal milestones—most notably the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision—
and shifting societal attitudes toward LGBT rights, the demography of older adults in same-sex
relationships remains understudied. Leveraging longitudinal, probability-based data from the
Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this dissertation provides new insights into the prevalence,
characteristics, relationship transitions, and social network structures of older adults in same-sex
couples. The first analytic chapter evaluates the measurement of same-sex relationship status in
the HRS, benchmarking 2018 HRS estimates against the 2019 American Community Survey and
2019 Current Population Survey revised relationship rosters to assess data quality. The second
chapter uses 1998–2022 HRS data to analyze relationship transitions among cohabiting older
adult couples, focusing on differences by couple sex composition and the timing of the
Obergefell v. Hodges decision. The third chapter draws on 2006–2020 HRS data to compare the
social network structure of older adults in same-sex and different-sex unions, assessing
differences in network size, composition, and contact frequency. Findings from the first chapter
showed that HRS estimates aligned with those from the ACS and CPS. The recorded sex
composition of respondents was also consistent with their reported sexual identity, providing
additional affirmation of the content validity of the HRS data on same-sex relationships. In the
second chapter, same-sex and different-sex cohabiting couples exhibited similar incidences of
marriage and union dissolution. However, before Obergefell, same-sex couples were
significantly less likely to marry, whereas after the decision, they were less likely to dissolve
their relationship compared to different-sex couples. Lastly, in the third chapter, older adults in
same-sex couples had networks of similar size to those in different-sex unions. Still, they varied
in composition, with the network of older adults in same-sex couples being more likely to
include friends rather than immediate family or children. They also had lower overall contact
frequency due to a decreased likelihood of having children in their network. Taken together, this
dissertation reveals the demographic contours of older adults in same-sex couples and further
elucidates how legal, social, and relational contexts intersect to shape family life in older
adulthood.