Abstract
Relationships are experienced all throughout one’s lifetime with
differing layers of complexities to maintain and make it last. Among
older adult couples, relationships are found to be crucial attributions
for being mentally healthy in their intrapersonal and interpersonal
lives. There is a rich extant literature on relationships and mental
health of older adults. However, this paper argues that there is still a
research imperative to provide a more contextualized characterization
pertinent to the mentally healthy behaviors employed by Filipino older
adults in their more than 20 years of relationship. This
phenomenological research underscored the typification of mentally
healthy behaviors of older adult couples in long-term monogamous
relationships. Guided by the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 22
participants (11 couples) were selected and interviewed. From the
collective narratives, a framework, ‘Fixatives for mentally
healthy long-term monogamous relationships’ was rendered with three
themes; Character reservoir (Staying to fill you up), Emotional
reservoir (Staying to lift you up) and Eternal reservoir
(Staying to back you up). The findings showed that the success of
a long-term monogamous relationship calls for a pledge of a lifetime
commitment and being cognitively, emotionally, socially and spiritually
invested to their spouses. The emergent framework may be used as a
springboard for community-based programs such as family support sessions
and other supportive interventions for older adults. The framework may
also be used as a guide for strengthening mental health advocacy
campaigns, end-of-life services and to encourage more older-adult
studies to deeply enrich the research culture on the Filipino older
adults.