Work

Divorce Attitudes Among Older Adults: Two Decades of Change

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: The authors used data from the 1994, 2002, and 2012 General Social Survey (N = 1,450) to examine whether support for divorce has increased among adults aged 50 and older. Consistent with the rise in the gray divorce rate, today's older adults were more accepting of divorce than their predecessors were two decades ago. Attitudinal change was modest between 1994 and 2002 but accelerated after 2002. The acceleration was primarily due to period rather than cohort change, signaling the role of broader shifts in the meaning of marriage as it has become deinstitutionalized. Older birth cohorts and individuals who were either divorced or remarried were especially likely to hold supportive attitudes toward divorce.

Source: Journal of Family Issues

DOI: 10.1177/0192513x19832936

Authors: Susan L. Brown, Matthew R. Wright

Institutions: Bowling Green State University, Arkansas State University

Language: English

Topic: Family Dynamics and Relationships

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Award: Center for Family and Demographic Research