Intimacy and autonomy, gender and ageing: Living apart together

Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 2014

Late-life divorce-commonly referred to as gray divorce-is a rising trend that parallels the growth of the older adult population. We sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the experience of marriage dissolution, the divorce process, and life following divorce in a sample of older adults who divorced after more than 20 years of marriage. Qualitative data were collected from 10 divorcees (7 women and 3 men; M age = 63.5) and analyzed to understand the gray divorce experience; that is, factors that determined or delayed the decision to divorce and divorcees' coping during and after divorce. Participants' stories demonstrate that marriages endure despite problems because relationships are complex, and good experiences mix with bad ones. Outcomes of late-life divorce have significant health and financial implications for both individuals and society.

2010

Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 2017

2020

So-called 'grey divorces'-i.e. voluntary union dissolutions after age 50-have received growing attention in the press as well as non-academic discourse. Nonetheless, while there is a vast amount of research on the socio-demographic, health-related and economic consequences of divorce at older ages, few studies have analysed the trends and correlates of grey divorces. Moreover, these studies are largely limited to the United States. This paper aims to fill this gap using data from six waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We document the antecedents of divorce in later life across Europe, shedding light on a rare but demographically and sociologically interesting phenomenon. Our results show that the determinants of grey divorce largely do not differ from the classical antecedents of divorce early in life. However, we also detected and discuss a few determinants specific to grey divorces, such as the presence of children and grandchildren.

Population, Space and Place

One of the most obvious consequences of divorce, the moving out from the formerly common household, has received only limited scholarly attention. The study focuses on a particular post-divorce residential move, the return to the parental home in Sweden, where intergenerational co-residence is uncommon and non-normative. It is asked whether family dissolution increases the likelihood of intergenerational co-residence and whether the strength of the effect depends on socioeconomic and geographical factors. The analysis of over a million individuals from Swedish population register data showed that even if living with parents is, in absolute terms, not a common intergenerational support strategy, its likelihood increases considerably after a family dissolution. Family dissolution increases the probability of living with one's parents especially among men, those with low incomes, and those who lived close to their mother. The implications of the findings for the literature on patterns of intergenerational support across Europe are discussed. 1

Canadian Woman Studies, 1992

2014

We analyze birth cohort patterns in the intergenerational transmission of divorce and family dissolution in Sweden. It is well known that parental separation is associated with a higher risk of own divorce, but less is known whether these associations have changed or remained stable over time. There are strong theoretical reasons to expect changes in this pattern, but there are only few empirical studies, partly due to the lack of appropriate data. Furthermore, the studies that exist yield contradictory conclusions (see, e.g., Amato and Cheadle 2005; Dronkers and Harkonen 2008; Engelhardt, Trappe and Dronkers 2002; Li and Wu 2008; Teachman 2002; Wolfinger 1999, 2011). We use population register data from six birth cohorts (born 1950-75) of Swedish men and women to study cohort patterns in the intergenerational transmission of divorce and family dissolution during a time of rapid family and social change. Our findings show no trend over the birth cohorts.

2009

1991

This paper explores how the occurrence and timing of parental marital disruption within the 'child's' lifecourse can influence the obligations they feel to care for their parents in later life. Preexisting studies of marital disruption have tended to emphasise the negative effects of childhood experiences of parental divorce on intergenerational obligations to care. Through interviews with mid-lifers in Southampton (UK), the research challenges the existing literature by demonstrating how marital breakdown occurring across participants' lifecourses (during childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and in mid-life), has detrimentally affected the feelings of obligation they have to care for their parents in significant ways. We focus in particular on participants who have experienced disruption relatively recently, following their parent's retirement. Our findings highlight parental retirement as a key lifecourse event, which can unsettle marital dynamics, family relations and intergenerational exchange frameworks. We exemplify how the deterioration of marital relations in post-retirement couples has resulted in weakened relationships with their (adult) children, who have expressed deteriorating obligations to care for their parents as a result. These findings are presented within the context of an increasing informal care gap in the UK, rising divorce rates during the 1980s and 1990s, and the complex intergenerational exchange frameworks of our 'sandwich generation' participants. We conclude by considering the implications of these findings for family-centric social care policy in the UK.

2003

Parental divorce has been an increasing experience amongst the generations of children born since the 1970s in European countries. This study analyses data on the partnership and parenthood behaviour of those children who experienced parental separation during childhood for nine Western European nations, as well as Britain and the USA. Across all nations the hallmarks of the adult demographic behaviour

The Gerontologist, 1996

We use data from the first wave of the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) to examine the marital histories of this cohort of women and men on the verge of retirement. The legacy of past increases in divorce rates is evident in the complex marital histories of HRS households and the relationship between those histories and current economic status. Couples in a first marriage now make up only one-quarter of black households and fewer than half of all white and Hispanic households. In over one-third of all married-couple households, at least one spouse had a previous marriage that ended in divorce or widowhood. These couples have significantly lower incomes and assets than couples in first marriages. Contrary to the popular notion that private and public insurance better provide for the security of widows than divorced persons, currently widowed households and couples in which the prior marriage of one spouse had ended in widowhood are no better off than are their divorced peers. This holds true for both black and white households. From a single cross-section, one cannot tell what caused these differences in income and wealth across marital status groups although it is clear that women and blacks spend a higher percentage of their lifetime outside of marriage than do men and whites. We also speculate from estimates of widowhood expectations for a subset of married respondents that underestimating the chances of widowhood -because both men and women overestimate their chances of joint survival -may be a factor in the relatively low economic status of widows. Because couples in life-long marriages have been the traditional standard upon which marital property reform and the survivorship rules of private and public programs are based, their diminishing importance among all households raises concern about the protection provided by these institutions against the long-term economic consequences of past and future marital dissolution.

Social Science & Medicine, 2012

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This study explores the marital satisfaction among widows and widowers, and the implications of these to their desire of remarrying. Analyses are based on the triangulation method such as two sets of quantitative methods and a qualitative method. Due to respondents' availability thirty (30) respondents used in this study. Widowed men and women has the same level of marital satisfaction however widowers has to have the possibility to remarry than widows who have shown to be more focused with their responsibilities with their children. This study also had shown Age and the Period of being widowed as a great factor why widows and widowers do not consider remarriage. The study also revealed that most widows viewed remarriage and re-partnering as a responsibility. And also the common transitions happened after widowhood. The study had shown not only the financial changes but also the emotional changes had been experienced by most widows and widowers.

Population trends, 2008

This article explores the age difference of marrying and divorcing couples, calculated by subtracting the wife's age from the husband's. Age difference is of interest in the study of families and partnership behaviour. It is also important because of its link with broader socio-demographic changes, such as population ageing, delayed fertility and the provision of care. The main finding is that between 1963 and 2005, the distribution of age differences for all marriages is very similar in each year to the distribution of age differences for the subset of couples who married in that year, but have since divorced. While there is some evidence of small variations in the proportion of marriages that end in divorce by age difference, there does not seem to be evidence of a strong association.