The purposes of this longitudinal study were to examine the effect of time and gender on elderly marital partners' perceptions of conjugal support and coping behaviors and to examine the association between these perceptions and the partners'psychological well-being. A sample of 135 couples, 65 or older, drawn from users and nonusers of health and social services in a large metropolitan area, were interviewed at home. Twenty-four months later, 90 of these couples were reinterviewed. The perception of conjugal support was significantly more positive at the time of the second interview than at the time of the first, and husbands' perceptions were significantly more positive than their wives'. Elderly partners made significantly greater use of their informal support system and reframing at the time of the second interview. Women made significantly greater use of their informal support system than did men. A pattern of significant associations between conjugal support and life satisfaction as well as between cognitive coping strategies and life satisfaction wasfound at both time periods. Results provide information on factors associated with psychological well-being and provide direction for the development of nursing strategies aimed at fostering better quality of life.
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