Grey divorce [1] is the demographic trend of an increasing divorce rate for older ("grey-haired") couples in long-lasting marriages, typically used for people over 50. The divorcing people may be called silver splitters. [2] Divorcing late in life can cause financial difficulties.
Former American vice-presidential couple Tipper and Al Gore's decision to separate after over 40 years of marriage is an example of this trend, as is the former married research and writing duo Masters and Johnson and music duo Captain and Tennille, whose own divorce came in 2014 after 39 years of marriage. [3] Another example of this is the divorce of the world's fourth-richest man, Bill Gates and his wife of 27 years, Melinda French Gates in May 2021.
Couples who divorce late in life affect the housing market. Whereas before the divorce, two older people may live in a single-family home, after the divorce, it is typical for at least one of them to live alone during the first few years after the divorce. [4] Although some silver splitters will move in with adult children, a romantic partner, or a roommate, most do not re-marry. [4] Exchanging one married couple sharing a home for two single people living apart increases the demand for smaller and less expensive housing options, such as one-bedroom apartments. [4] Many older single people need to find not only a home to live in, but a home that is affordable, will be safe and accessible as they age, and is near healthcare, transportation, and other needed services. [4]
Living together as a married couple also provided both people in the marriage with some level of live-in mutual assistance. [4] After the divorce, especially if they are living alone, they may not have access to assistance with household or financial tasks, with driving, or with activities of daily living when they are sick or if they become disabled. This increases the demand from aging people for social services, such as public transportation, professional caregiving, and subsidized or affordable housing. [4]
Grey divorces tend to be financially harmful to the individuals. [4] In addition to higher expenses (e.g., to maintain two homes instead of one shared home), the assets previously shared by the couple are divided. [4] [5] Many are either retired or close to retirement, so they have less opportunity to earn or save more money than a person who divorced at a younger age. [4] Any retirement savings that survive the divorce have little time to grow again. [5]
They are also at risk of becoming socially isolated and lonely. [4] Many people enjoy the autonomy of living alone, but loneliness can become a problem, especially as they age, or if they are kinless. [4] [6] The rising number of elders living alone has encouraged research into automated assistance tools and robots that can provide friendly companionship, especially in Japan. [4]
Grey divorce was documented in the United States as early as the 1980s, [7] but wasn't labeled as such until around 2004. [8] The phenomenon entered the public awareness with a 2004 AARP study [9] and was further elucidated in Deirdre Bair's 2007 book Calling It Quits, which contained interviews with grey divorcees. [10]
As of 2023 [update] , in the US, about one third of divorces involve people over the age of 50. [4] The divorce rate for people over the age of 50 doubled between 1990 and 2010. [5] [11] By 2013, the number of divorcees over the age of 50 exceeded the number of widowed people (these numbers include people who divorced or survived the death of their spouses at any age). [12] Silver splitters have less than a 50% chance of re-marrying; about one in five women will remarry, and about two out of five men. [11]
Possible causes for a higher rate of divorce among older people include the increase in human longevity, the cultural values of Baby Boomers, and women's increasing financial independence as potential causes. [8] Women are somewhat more likely to initiate divorce proceedings, and they benefit emotionally far more than financially. [11]
Financial challenges include identifying and fairly dividing retirement savings, navigating the process of getting qualified domestic relations orders for any defined benefit pension plans, and agreeing on any temporary alimony payments. [5] Social Security benefits, assuming the marriage lasted at least 10 years, are relatively standardized for divorcing couples. [5] These financial challenges, on average, disproportionately harm women. [11] Their standard of living nearly halves, while men's declines by about 20%. [11]
In Japan it is referred to as retired husband syndrome (主人在宅ストレス症候群, Shujin Zaitaku Sutoresu Shoukougun, literally One's Husband Being at Home Stress Syndrome). [13] [14] While devoting years to his career, a husband may rarely see his family. [14] As a result, a husband and wife may not interact extensively. When the husband retires, both can feel they are living with a virtual stranger. [15] This can cause particular stress for the woman who, as society dictated in her youth, is now expected to attend to her husband's every need. [15] The stress of change in lifestyle brings a number of problems, [14] including feelings of resentment towards husbands. [15]
Older couples are responsible for the overall increase in the divorce rate in the United Kingdom in the twenty-first century. [16]
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become increasingly common in Western countries since the late 20th century, being led by changing social views, especially regarding marriage.
Divorce is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law of the particular country or state. It can be said to be a legal dissolution of a marriage by a court or other competent body. It is the legal process of ending a marriage.
Gully is a city in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the Grand Forks-ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 59 at the 2020 census.
No-fault divorce is the dissolution of a marriage that does not require a showing of wrongdoing by either party. Laws providing for no-fault divorce allow a family court to grant a divorce in response to a petition by either party of the marriage without requiring the petitioner to provide evidence that the defendant has committed a breach of the marital contract.
Traditional Chinese marriage is a ceremonial ritual within Chinese societies that involves not only a union between spouses but also a union between the two families of a man and a woman, sometimes established by pre-arrangement between families. Marriage and family are inextricably linked, which involves the interests of both families. Within Chinese culture, romantic love and monogamy were the norm for most citizens. Around the end of primitive society, traditional Chinese marriage rituals were formed, with deer skin betrothal in the Fuxi era, the appearance of the "meeting hall" during the Xia and Shang dynasties, and then in the Zhou dynasty, a complete set of marriage etiquette gradually formed. The richness of this series of rituals proves the importance the ancients attached to marriage. In addition to the unique nature of the "three letters and six rituals", monogamy, remarriage and divorce in traditional Chinese marriage culture are also distinctive.
In Western culture the Boomerang Generation refers to the generation of young adults graduating high school and college in the 21st century. They are so named for the percentage of whom choose to share a home with their parents after previously living on their own—thus boomeranging back to their parents' residence. This arrangement can take many forms, ranging from situations that mirror the high dependency of pre-adulthood to highly independent, separate-household arrangements.
Marriage in Korea mirrors many of the practices and expectations of marriages in other societies. Modern practices are a combination of millennia-old traditions and global influences.
Divorce demography is the study of divorce statistics in a population. There are three ratios used for divorce rate calculations: crude divorce rate, refined divorce rate, and divorce-to-marriage ratio. Each of these calculations has weaknesses and can be misleading.
Retired husband syndrome (RHS) is a psychosomatic stress-related illness recognized in Japanese culture which has been estimated to occur in 60% of the older female population. It is claimed to be a condition where a woman begins to exhibit signs of physical illness and depression as her husband reaches, or approaches, retirement.
Remarriage is a marriage that takes place after a previous marital union has ended, as through divorce or widowhood. Some individuals are more likely to remarry than others; the likelihood can differ based on previous relationship status, level of interest in establishing a new romantic relationship, gender, culture, and age among other factors. Those who choose not to remarry may prefer alternative arrangements like cohabitation or living apart together. Remarriage also provides mental and physical health benefits. However, although remarried individuals tend to have better health than individuals who do not repartner, they still generally have worse health than individuals who have remained continuously married. Remarriage is addressed differently in various religions and denominations of those religions. Someone who repeatedly remarries is referred to as a serial wedder.
Marriage in the United States is a legal, social, and religious institution. The marriage age is set by each state and territory, either by statute or the common law applies. An individual may marry without parental consent or other authorization on reaching 18 years of age in all states except in Nebraska and Mississippi In Puerto Rico the general marriage age is also 21. In all these jurisdictions, these are also the ages of majority. In Alabama, however, the age of majority is 19, while the general marriage age is 18. Most states also set a lower age at which underage persons are able to marry with parental or judicial consent. Marriages where one partner is less than 18 years of age are commonly referred to as child or underage marriages.
Cohabitation in the United States is loosely defined as two or more people, in an intimate relationship, who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union.
Interracial marriage has been legal throughout the United States since at least the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia (1967) that held that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional via the 14th Amendment adopted in 1868. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the court opinion that "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State." Interracial marriages have been formally protected by federal statute through the Respect for Marriage Act since 2022.
In the United States, the traditional family structure is considered a family support system involving two married individuals providing care and stability for their biological offspring. However, this two-parent, heterosexual, nuclear family has become less prevalent, and nontraditional family forms have become more common. The family is created at birth and establishes ties across generations. Those generations, the extended family of aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins, can hold significant emotional and economic roles for the nuclear family.
Marriage in China has undergone change during the country's economic reform period, especially as a result of new legal policies such as the New Marriage Law of 1950 and the family planning policy in place from 1979 to 2015. The major transformation in the twentieth century is characterized by the change from traditional structures for Chinese marriage, such as arranged marriage, to one where the freedom to choose one’s partner is generally respected. However, both parental and cultural pressures are still placed on many individuals, especially women, to choose socially and economically advantageous marriage partners. In 2023, China had 7.68 million marriages. While divorce remains rare in China, the 1.96 million couples applying for divorce in 2010 represented a rate 14% higher than the year before and doubled from ten years ago. Despite this rising divorce rate, marriage is still thought of as a natural part of the life course and as a responsibility of good citizenship in China.
The seven-year itch is a popular belief, sometimes quoted as having psychological backing, that happiness in a marriage or long-term romantic relationship declines after around seven years.
Naked marriage in China, sometimes called "bare marriage", is a form of marriage that is undertaken without the couple having first accumulated a solid financial foundation. Typically it does not include a wedding, a ring, a house, a car or a honeymoon. The practice contrasts with the traditional Chinese custom of parents helping to provide the assets for their children's marriages. Naked marriage has become increasingly prevalent in China and is popular among people born in the country after the 1980s. It is generally recognized as a frugal way for loving partners to marry under the enormous economic pressure China's younger generation is facing in the 21st century.
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In South Korea, aging refers to an increase in the proportion of senior citizens to the total population. The term "senior citizens" include those aged 65 or older. According to Article 3 no.1 of the Framework Act on Low Birthrate of an Aging Society, the term "aging population" refers to the increasing proportion of elderly people in the entire population.
Kinlessness is the state of having no family members. This is often defined as an adult, especially an older adult, who has no spouse or children. It may be defined in other ways, including having no known relatives at all, or having no first-degree relatives. People who are kinless may call themselves elder orphans or solo agers.
Those professionals, along with people going through so-called gray divorces, point to many factors