Love and Caregiving the Second Time Around: What Do Older Women Really Want?

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Sex without marriage? Companionship without sex? Do money, healthcare and grandchildren come first - a wedding ring second?

For most women ages 45 and older, a second marriage clearly is no longer the goal.

Here's the question I asked as part of an online survey at www.womans age.org and as part of my weekly column for The Orange County Register. If you are age 45-plus and married - and something happened to end that marriage (say, death, separation or divorce) - would you consider marrying again?

I was testing me Haas tJieory about marriage, which says that if you are a woman and have a job or a sense of economic independence, and if you have done any caregiving …