A new study analyzing panel data collected over two decades has revealed that individuals who divorce after the age of 50 tend to exhibit more severe symptoms of depression. This condition worsens if the individual loses contact with at least one adult child following the divorce. However, depressive symptoms showed a brief improvement after the individual found a new partner. The research was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
In recent decades, it has become increasingly common for individuals to experience divorce later in life. Between 1990 and 2010, the rate of divorce among people over the age of 50 doubled. These instances, where couples over 50 decide to end their marriage, often after many years together, are referred to as “grey divorces.”
Following a grey divorce, 22% of women and 37% of men find another partner within ten years. Nonetheless, for most people, divorce ranks as one of the most stressful life events. Occurring at a time when many are beginning to face various age-related health issues, a divorce can exacerbate the decline in health. The situation may be even more dire if the divorce leads to losing contact with adult children from the marriage. However, few studies have explored the specific associations between grey divorce and mental health.
The study’s lead researcher, I-Fen Lin, and her colleagues aimed to investigate whether losing contact with an adult child exacerbates the negative impact of grey divorce on depression symptoms. They hypothesized that disconnection from a child would intensify the negative effects of divorce and dampen the “honeymoon effect” of finding a new partner on mental health. They also posited that maintaining frequent contact with at least one child could mitigate the negative impact of having a disconnected child.
The researchers noted that since divorce is a process that starts while the marriage is still intact, longitudinal data tracking individuals over many years are necessary for such studies. They utilized data from the Health and Retirement Study, a prospective, nationally representative survey of adults aged 51 and older in the United States, including their spouses. This study collected data between 1998 and 2018, with updates every two years and the addition of new participants every six years.
The authors analyzed data from 29,702 participants of the Health and Retirement Study who were aged 50 or older and reported being married in 1998 or later. They selected those who reported a divorce at age 50 or later from a heterosexual marriage and for whom data were available at at least one time point before the divorce.
The researchers linked participants’ data to information about their children aged 18 or older that was also available. They excluded data from individuals without adult children during the study period and those for whom data on depressive symptoms for the studied period were missing from their analyses. This led to a final sample of 930 participants who had experienced a grey divorce.
For this group, the researchers analyzed data on the timing of their divorce, whether they found another partner after the divorce (Yes/No), the frequency of contact with each of their adult children over the past 12 months (those reporting no contact with at least one child were considered to have a disconnected child), and depression symptoms (using an abbreviated version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale).
The results indicated that, on average, these individuals reported 1.87 depressive symptoms. Seven percent had at least one child from whom they were disconnected. Eighty-six percent had weekly contact with at least one child. On average, respondents had two adult children, and less than 25% had a child under 18.
The examination of the links between divorce and depressive symptoms showed that divorce was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms. This increase was further exacerbated in participants who had at least one disconnected adult child. Levels of depressive symptoms tended to decrease immediately after finding a new partner (among those who did find one), but this effect faded over time. Having a disconnected child did not alter the effects of the new partner on depressive symptoms.
The impact of being disconnected from a son on depressive symptoms was roughly the same as the impact of being disconnected from a daughter. The effects were approximately equal for men and women. Individuals who were better educated and wealthier tended to report fewer depressive symptoms compared to their less educated and wealthier counterparts.
“Our study demonstrates that parent–child disconnectedness plays a significant role in shaping the impact of gray divorce on depressive symptoms. Having no contact with at least one adult child worsens the negative effect of divorce on parents’ mental health. Older parents who are out of touch with an adult child typically report decreased psychological well-being, including high levels of anxiety and feelings of anger, sadness, and disappointment,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the links between family relationships in advanced age and mental health. However, it also has limitations that need to be taken into account. Notably, to acquire such a large longitudinal sample, researchers were limited to using very brief assessments. This limited their ability to interpret the findings. Additionally, the study did not take into account who severed the parent-child contact in participants with disconnected children and why. It also remained unknown what the relationship quality with the children was before the divorce.
The paper, “Gray divorce and parent–child disconnectedness: Implications for depressive symptoms,” was authored by I-Fen Lin, Susan L. Brown, and Kagan A. Mellencamp.