Aging couples and disability management.

The purpose of this work is to identify, in an elderly population, couple patterns and to relate this typology to the management of disabilities. Resulting from questions arising from research in gerontology, it utilizes the theoretical contribution of the sociology of the family so as to understand the relationships between the functioning of the couple and the management of disability. Four types of couples have been identified according to the presence or absence of a tacit contract between husband and wife and according to the character of their relationships. In each type, we have studied the conduct of daily life and its negotiation as well as the management of disabilities. The analysis shows that this management is very different according to the type of couple and thus confirms the importance of taking the functioning of the couple into account so as to fully understand the situation of disabled married elderly persons.