Because of the rapidly growing number of elderly (up from some 600,000 in 1976 to over one million in 1986), and the rising divorce rate (up from one divorce per fifteen marriages in 1976 to one per eight in 1986), increasingly open attitudes in society toward marriage, the emotional life of the elderly has also become of greater concern.
根據內政部的統計，我國六十五歲以上的人口，從民國六十五年的六十餘萬人，到七十五年突破一百萬；十年來的離婚率也由一比十五（十五對結婚者中有一對離婚），暴升到一比八。由於老人的增多，以及社會對婚姻的觀念趨向開放，老年人的感情生活愈來愈受關心。