Uncoupling in Late Life

The chances of being old and newly single are increasing. As never before, individuals in advanced capitalist societies are living longer, healthier lives far into old age. With longer lives, recent cohorts of older adults are discovering choices, challenges, and circumstances virtually unheard of before, including matters regarding their marital, or life-partner, status. Both longer life expectancy and robust health in old age are, therefore, re-characterizing life trajectories and familial relationships in late life and are redefining the meaning of marriage and widowhood. The chances of experiencing a disruptive marital transition in late life are increasing through population aging, for this demographic process creates a greater exposure to widowhood and, somewhat surprisingly, also a higher risk of divorce or separation (Honeyman et al., 1994)-Growing numbers of individuals will experience a major transition in familial life during their old age. This trend cannot be ignored because uncoupling in late life has major consequences for psychological well-being, social support, social involvement, loneliness, life satisfaction, and economic welfare among older people. Indeed, most late-life uncoupling occurs through the disruption of long-term marriages, suggesting the existence of age-specific issues and problems in adjusting to life after dissolution of a long-term relationship. In this article, we discuss the principal trends related to uncoupling in late life and the main reasons for and consequences of it. Understanding marital status and familial telationships in late life is important because these social relationships are crucial sources of well-being in old age (Brubaker, 1983). Late-life uncoupling can happen through dissolution of nonmarital (dating or cohabiting) relationships, but to our knowledge, very little is known about this topic. Thus, we focus this discussion on uncoupling through marital dissolution. UNCOUPLING THROUGH DIVORCE OR SEPARATION Most people would expect that marital dissolution through divorce is an uncommon experience among older adults. To be sure, divorce is, in fact, largely concentrated among younger couples, but social processes associated with population aging, which refers to both an increasing proportion of older adults and longer life expectancies, are transforming marital dynamics and familial relationships for older adults diroughout most advanced industrial societies (Dickson, Christian, and Remmo, 2004). Though it is reasonable to anticipate that longer life expectancies would produce longer marriages, the prevalence of long-term marriages is actually declining vis-a-vis population . The stereotype of the long-term, single marital union does not parallel current demographic trends. For example, just one in five marriages of late-life couples will survive 50 years, with four in five ending in divorce or widowhood prior to this marker (Cavanaugh and Parks, 1993). Demographic research illustrates that the divorce rate for individuals age 65 and older is growing in the United States, Canada, Britain, Italy, France, Japan, and several other countries (Kingston, 2007). In this respect, population aging entails a concomitant diversification of familial experiences in late life, including marital breakdown (Treas, 1995)- Though not a well-understood phenomenon, divorce in late life is becoming a more prevalent life event, and some experts believe that the general potential to live longer, healthier lives is motivating a growing number of older individuals to dissolve unfulfilling or otherwise troubled marriages (Clift, 2005; Wu and Penning, 1997). The combination of short life expectancies after age 65, social taboos, and conservative divorce legislation meant that until quite recendy late-life divorce was an almost unheard of event before recent years. Though still a rather uncommon phenomenon, the prevalence of late-life divorce is rising and is projected to climb as the baby boomers enter their senior years, bringing with them liberal, permissive attitudes about self-fulfillment, belonging, and individual behaviors (Cherlin, 1990). …