A home of their own. Women's boundary work in LAT-relationships

Ambivalence and Living Apart Together in Later Life: A Critical Research Proposal

“…Cultural variations in the degree to which marriage is entrenched as the acceptable form of intimate relationship make ambivalence a useful concept for comparative research on LAT later in life. Striking a balance between having a committed relationship and maintaining autonomy (Karlsson & Borell, ; Upton‐Davis, )—a central contradiction of LAT—is a source of ambivalence negotiated by individuals and couples in the context of social arrangements that promote marriage and, more recently, cohabitation. Contradictions at the level of structured social relations also underscore the differential appeal and accessibility of LAT as an option, for example, based on gender and class.…”

Do coresidence and intentions make a difference? Relationship satisfaction in married, cohabiting, and living apart together couples in four countries

“…This allows an investigation of variations in relationship satisfaction across different institutional contexts because the GGS provides comparable measures across these four countries on key dependent and independent variables. There is already considerable research on LAT couples in the Scandinavian context (Karlsson and Borell 2005;Levin 2004;Levin and Trost 1999) providing insight into relationship quality in social democratic regimes. Our research examines patterns across other regime types.…”

Subverting gendered norms of cohabitation: Living Apart Together for women over 45

“…Amongst other interesting findings, they revealed that one in four of the supposedly single adult population was LAT -1.1 million people (Reimondos et al 2011, p. 48). Those who are LAT vary in age, circumstance (living alone or living with others such as children or parents), sexual orientation, motivations for doing so and future intentions (whether to later marry, cohabit or to remain LAT; see Milan and Peters 2003, De Jong Gierveld 2004, Iwasawa 2004, Levin 2004, Haskey 2005, Karlsson and Borell 2005, Haskey and Lewis 2006, Roseneil 2006, Karlsson 2007, Asendorpf 2008, Castro-Martin et al 2008, Ermisch and Siedler 2008, Regnier-Loilier et al 2009, Strohm et al 2009, Duncan and Phillips 2010, Reimondos et al 2011. Those regarding themselves as LAT range from very young adults who still live at home and are financially supported by their parents, to senior citizens; from those who are reluctantly apart, to those who have actively chosen to be so; and from those who consider themselves on the way to marriage or cohabitation, to those for whom LAT as a relationship form is their ultimate desire.…”