I-Fen Lin

The Gray Divorce Revolution: Rising Divorce Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults, 1990–2010

PURPOSE Our study documents how the divorce rate among persons aged 50 and older has changed between 1990 and 2010 and identifies the sociodemographic correlates of divorce among todays middle-aged and older adults. DESIGN AND METHOD We used data from the 1990 U.S. Vital Statistics Report and the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) to examine the change in the divorce rate over time. ACS data were analyzed to determine the sociodemographic correlates of divorce. RESULTS The divorce rate among adults aged 50 and older doubled between 1990 and 2010. Roughly 1 in 4 divorces in 2010 occurred to persons aged 50 and older. Demographic characteristics, economic resources, and the marital biography were associated with the risk of divorce in 2010. The rate of divorce was 2.5 times higher for those in remarriages versus first marriages, whereas the divorce rate declined as marital duration rose. IMPLICATIONS The traditional focus of gerontological research on widowhood must be expanded to include divorce as another form of marital dissolution. Over 600,000 people aged 50 and older got divorced in 2010 but little is known about the predictors and consequences of divorces that occur during middle and later life.

Unmarried Boomers Confront Old Age: A National Portrait

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Our study provides a national portrait of the Baby Boom generation, paying particular attention to the heterogeneity among unmarried Boomers and whether it operates similarly among women versus men. DESIGN AND METHODS We used the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Census 5% samples and the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) to document the trends in the share and marital status composition of the unmarried population during midlife. Using the 2009 ACS, we developed a sociodemographic portrait of Baby Boomers according to marital status. RESULTS One in three Baby Boomers was unmarried. The vast majority of these unmarried Boomers were either divorced or never-married; just 10% were widowed. Unmarried Boomers faced greater economic, health, and social vulnerabilities compared to married Boomers. Divorced Boomers had more economic resources and better health than widowed and never-married Boomers. Widows appeared to be the most disadvantaged among Boomer women, whereas never-marrieds were the least advantaged among Boomer men. IMPLICATIONS The rise in unmarrieds at midlife leaves Baby Boomers vulnerable to the vagaries of aging. Health care and social service providers as well as policy makers must recognize the various risk profiles of different unmarried Boomers to ensure that all Boomers age well and that society is able to provide adequate services to all Boomers, regardless of marital status.

Later Life Marital Dissolution and Repartnership Status: A National Portrait

Objectives Our study compares two types of later life marital dissolution that occur after age 50-divorce and widowhood-and their associations with repartnership status (i.e., remarried, cohabiting, or unpartnered). Method We used data from the Health and Retirement Study to provide a portrait of later life divorce and widowhood for women and men. Next, we tested whether marital dissolution type is related to womens and mens repartnered status, distinguishing among remarrieds, cohabitors, and unpartnereds, net of key sociodemographic indicators. Results Divorcees are more often repartnered through either remarriage or cohabitation than are widoweds. This gap persists among women net of an array of sociodemographic factors. For men, the differential is reduced to nonsignificance with the inclusion of these factors. Discussion Later life marital dissolution increasingly occurs through divorce rather than widowhood, and divorce is more often followed by repartnership. The results from this study suggest that gerontological research should not solely focus on widowhood but also should pay attention to divorce and repartnering during later life.

Marital Biography, Social Security Receipt, and Poverty

Increasingly, older adults are unmarried, which could mean a larger share is at risk of economic disadvantage. Using data from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study, we chart the diverse range of marital biographies, capturing marital sequences and timing, of adults who are age eligible for Social Security and examine three indicators of economic well-being: Social Security receipt, Social Security benefit levels, and poverty status. Partnereds are disproportionately likely to receive Social Security and they enjoy relatively high Social Security benefits and very low poverty levels. Among singles, economic well-being varies by marital biography and gender. Gray divorced and never-married women face considerable economic insecurity. Their Social Security benefits are relatively low, and their poverty rates are quite high (over 25%), indicating Social Security alone is not sufficient to prevent these women from falling into poverty. By comparison, gray widoweds are the most advantaged singles.

Patterns of coping among family caregivers of frail older adults.

Past studies have extensively examined factors associated with coping strategies that caregivers use to ameliorate distress or solve problems. While these studies have found that stressors and individual resources influence choices of coping strategies, they have tended to overlook caregivers’ social resources and have rarely considered the possibility that distinct groups of caregivers may use different sets of coping strategies. We conducted latent-class analyses to identify distinct groups of caregivers: those using no particular patterns of coping (unpatterned-coping), those centering on ameliorating distress (emotional-coping), and those focusing on both ameliorating distress and solving problems (hybrid-coping). Stressors distinguished all three coping groups, individual resources differentiated the hybrid-coping group from the emotional-coping group and the unpatterned-coping group, and social resources separated the emotional-coping group and the hybrid-coping group from the unpatterned-coping group. These findings indicate different factors contributing to caregivers’ use of different coping styles and suggest ways to better help caregivers.

Early-Life Parent–Child Relationships and Adult Children’s Support of Unpartnered Parents in Later Life

OBJECTIVES The proportion of older adults who are unpartnered has increased significantly over the past 25 years. Unpartnered older adults often rely on their adult children for support. Most previous studies have focused on proximal factors associated with adult childrens support of their parents, while few have examined distal factors, such as parent-child relationships formed during childhood. This study fills the gap by investigating the direct and indirect associations between early-life parent-child relationships and adult childrens upward transfers to unpartnered parents. METHOD Data came from two supplements to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, in which respondents were asked about their relationships with mothers and fathers before age 17 and their transfers of time and money to parents in 2013. Path models were estimated for unpartnered mother-adult child dyads and father-adult child dyads separately. RESULTS For adult children of unpartnered mothers, psychological closeness has a direct, positive association with time transfer, while physical violence has an indirect association with time transfer through adult childrens marital status. For adult children of unpartnered fathers, psychological closeness has neither a direct nor an indirect association with time or money transfer, but physical violence has a direct, negative association with time transfer. DISCUSSION Early-life parent-child relationships play a pivotal role in influencing adult childrens caregiving behavior, both directly and indirectly. Our findings suggest that by improving their relationships with children early in life, parents may be able to increase the amount of time transfer that they receive in late life.