Paper shows a rise in divorces among older Americans
You've heard the term gay divorcee, but now it's time that the gray divorcee gets their moment in the spotlight. That's because in the 20 years between 1990 and 2009, the divorce rate doubled among couples who were between the ages of 50 and 64.
Thanks to Bowling State University researcher Susan Brown and her paper, "The Gray Divorce Revolution: Rising Divorce among Middle-aged and Older Adults, 1990-2009", we know that the rising divorce rate showed no slowing down as her data timeline stopped. One in every four divorces in American during the study's last year—2009—were in this age group. And on top of that, it seems that the brides were the side to initiate the break-up. If you delve even further into the statistics, you'll find that many of these divorces were second and third marriages.
What is bringing on these older couples to the end of the line in their marriages? According to Professor of Psychiatry at LSU Health Sciences Center Dr. Martin Drell, a lot of it has to do with the attitudes changing over time—specifically the era during these marriages. Just the loss of stigma that divorce now has probably contributed to a majority of the divorces between first-time couples.
However, in the divorces of people wed for the second or third time—which number of which eclipse their first time counterparts by two-and-a-half times—attitudes toward the single woman after a certain age no longer carries with it a social burden is a major reason that those break-ups happen.