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An Otago University professor has released a book on her findings that love improves with age.
Professor Amanda Barusch, who teaches social work and community development at the university, interviewed 91 people for her investigation into love and romance among baby boomers aged over 50.
The interviewees, aged 51 to 97, were mostly widowed, but also included married couples and divorcees. Professor Barusch said they consistently reported that love improved with age.
The academic who used to teach at the University of Utah has turned her studies into a book, Love Stories of Later Life.
Although the expected complications of ageing often intruded on romantic satisfaction, she found twilight love also brought lifestyle changes.
Some women in nursing homes were able to share one boyfriend, while other couples kept their own housing but spent all their free time together.
One woman used the word "friend" to describe a whole range of relationships with men, while some couples reported diving into new sexual experiences.
"When you're in your 60s or older, the baggage is much lighter," Professor Barusch said.
Some older women had no reservations about initiating relationships with younger men, even if they were raised with a different set of cultural mores. But her survey showed widowed women generally claimed they were less interested in marrying again.
And she found people over 50 in new relationships "reported the highest overall romantic intensity" as well as "measures of physical and emotional intensity," compared with younger counterparts in new relationships.
- NZPA
