@article {8803, title = {Antecedents of Gray Divorce: A Life Course Perspective.}, journal = {J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci}, volume = {73}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 08 14}, pages = {1022-1031}, abstract = {

Objectives: Increasingly, older adults are experiencing divorce, yet little is known about the risk factors associated with divorce after age 50 (termed "gray divorce"). Guided by a life course perspective, our study examined whether key later life turning points are related to gray divorce.

Method: We used data from the 1998-2012 Health and Retirement Study to conduct a prospective, couple-level discrete-time event history analysis of the antecedents of gray divorce. Our models incorporated key turning points (empty nest, retirement, and poor health) as well as demographic characteristics and economic resources.

Results: Contrary to our expectations, the onset of an empty nest, the wife{\textquoteright}s or husband{\textquoteright}s retirement, and the wife{\textquoteright}s or husband{\textquoteright}s chronic conditions were unrelated to the likelihood of gray divorce. Rather, factors traditionally associated with divorce among younger adults were also salient for older adults. Marital duration, marital quality, home ownership, and wealth were negatively related to the risk of gray divorce.

Discussion: Gray divorce is especially likely to occur among couples who are socially and economically disadvantaged, raising new questions about the consequences of gray divorce for individual health and well-being.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, Divorce, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Retirement, Risk Factors, Socioeconomic factors, Spouses, United States}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbw164}, url = {http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1093/geronb/gbw164}, author = {Lin, I-Fen and Susan L. Brown and Matthew R Wright and Anna M Hammersmith} } @article {6515, title = {Later Life Marital Dissolution and Repartnership Status: A National Portrait.}, journal = {J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci}, volume = {73}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Aug 14}, pages = {1032-1042}, abstract = {

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 women{\textquoteright}s and men{\textquoteright}s 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.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Divorce, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Socioeconomic factors, Spouses, United States, Widowhood}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbw051}, url = {http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/04/29/geronb.gbw051.abstract}, author = {Susan L. Brown and Lin, I-Fen and Anna M Hammersmith and Matthew R Wright} }