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Sue Malta is a PhD candidate in the Social and Policy Studies department of the Faculty of Life and Social Sciences at Swinburne. Sue worked for many years in various academic and research organizations before setting up and running her own relocation support company in California, USA. On her return to Australia she did a BA (Hons) in Sociology at Swinburne, and completed a Community Internship with Maroondah City Council in the area of social connectedness amongst older adults.
She is currently Managing Editor of the online journal, the International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society (iJETS). Sue’s research interests include older adults, sexuality and, slightly tangentially, social connectedness and social isolation. She is particularly interested in the idea that older adults are not sexual beings. She recently completed a community development project with the Department of Human Services and Eastern Access Community Health, looking at social participation of older adults in long-term care.
Topic
Love, Sex and Intimacy. Older Adults and their Romantic Relationships: Online and Offline
The world is greying. Life expectancy at birth currently stands at 83 years for women and 78 years for men (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare Website, 2006), and by 2050 adults over the age of 60 will outnumber children for the first time in history (Adams, Oye & Parker 2003: 406). This demographic shift has important implications for communities the world over, as many older adults are stereotyped as frail, senseless and sexless. Once retirement age is reached (usually 65 years plus) senior citizens are often regarded as making little contribution or of being of questionable use to society.
Early data suggested that older adults were being left behind in regards to information and communications technology, specifically in the use of computers and the Internet (Furlong 1989: 145; Philbeck 1997: [1]; White et al 1999). However, recent research suggests that this is no longer the case, with the elderly population responsible for upwards of 40% of all new computer sales in the US alone (Conover 1997: 8), and increasing numbers of the elderly surfing the Internet (Riddle 2001: [1]). The Internet is becomingly increasingly important as a means to find friendship and to facilitate relationship formation (Hardey 2004: 207). There is considerable research detailing different kinds of online relationships, their prevalence, their forms, their impacts and their development into and impact on offline relationships (see for instance McCown, Fischer, Page & Homant 2001; McKenna, Green & Gleason 2002; Parks & Floyd 1996; Parks & Roberts 1998; Underwood & Findlay 2004).
In contrast, there is a dearth of research regarding older adults and their romantic relationships – both online and offline. It is as if older adults do not have relationships or, if they do, that these relationships hold no significance for society in general. Given the increasing numbers and longevity of older adults, this view seems short-sighted.
The current research will investigate whether older adults are developing online romantic relationships and, if so, the form these relationships take and the functions they serve. The study will also investigate older adults’ offline relationships, as there is some recent anecdotal evidence that suggests older adults are becoming more outwardly proactive about developing face-to-face romantic relationships (for instance, Alive, Well & On the Prowl: It’s the Geriatric Mating Game Kilborn Mar 7, 2004: 1.19). Further, it appears that older adults are becoming more sexually active, as evidenced by recent publications in both the media and the medical literature that detail the increased incidence of sexually-transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS in the elderly community (Inelmen, Gasparini & Enzi, 2005; Kemp Jan 10, 2006; Krisberg 2006). This is a phenomenon that also warrants further investigation from a sociological viewpoint.
Candidacy
PhD
Supervisors
Dr Karen Farquharson and Professor Michael Gilding
Publications and Other Research Outputs
 Go to Swinburne Research Bank
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