Health and Well-being Effects on Later-life Divorce and Subsequent Repartnering

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Health and Well-being Effects on Later-life Divorce and Subsequent Repartnering R15 Renewal Application Abstract Susan L. Brown and I-Fen Lin, MPIs The gray divorce rate, which is the rate of divorce among those aged 50 and older, doubled between 1990 and 2010, rising from 5 to 10 divorcing persons per 1,000 married persons. As of 2019, it persists at this high level. More than 1 in 3 people who divorced in 2019 were ages 50+ compared with less than 1 in 10 in 1990. Older adults are at risk for poor health after gray divorce. Depressive symptoms increase following divorce and remain elevated for four years, a protracted recuperation process that belies the two prevailing models of divorce adjustment. For older adults, adjustment does not occur after a brief crisis period, nor is it elusive because divorce is an enduring, chronic strain. Rather, gray divorce is followed by a slow but eventual recovery, which we term the convalescence model. The adjustment processes following gray divorce appear to be distinctive but remain poorly understood, underscoring the urgency of examining population heterogeneity in post-divorce adjustment among older adults. Guided by the stress process perspective, our central hypothesis is that women’s and men’s personal and social resources shape their divorce adjustment experience, determining whether they hew to the crisis period, convalescence, or chronic strain model. We use prospective, longitudinal data from the 1998-2020 Health and Retirement Study to address three aims. First, we investigate the patterns of post-divorce adjustment and how personal and social resources are associated with various adjustment trajectories. Second, we examine the linkages between post-divorce adjustment trajectories and repartnering. Third, we establish adjustment trajectories following repartnering and examine how post-divorce adjustment shapes post-repartnering health and well-being. The focus of this renewal application aligns with NIA’s strategic plan because it addresses the effects of interpersonal factors on aging, including the mechanisms through which these factors exert their effects, and informs ways to improve the health and well-being of adults as they age. This project fully incorporates two undergraduate and one graduate research assistant to expose students to all stages of the research process and enhance the BGSU research environment.