Divorce/Separation in Later-Life: A Fixed Effects Analysis of Economic Well-Being by Gender

With the on-going aging of the United States population and an increase in the number of older men and women living in a divorced/separated state, examining the economic security of this group is a worthwhile undertaking. Utilizing the 2004 and 2010 waves of the RAND Health and Retirement Study, this study employed fixed effects (FE) regression to examine the effects of divorce/separation on total wealth for older men and women. Results suggested older divorced/separated individuals endured a significant loss in total wealth due to a martial disruption and women fared worse than men. However, older adults can take proactive steps to ease this financial setback.