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

描述（由申请人提供）：灰色离婚率在过去二十年中翻了一番，从每1,000名50岁及以上的已婚人口中有5到10人离婚。2010年，超过四分之一的离婚者年龄在50岁以上，而1990年这一比例不到十分之一。近年来，随着人口老龄化，灰色离婚率的上升，迫切需要调查与老年离婚相关的生命过程因素及其对个人福祉的影响。它还提出了关于灰色离婚后会发生什么的新问题：重新伴侣有多普遍，无论是通过同居还是再婚，以及重新伴侣在多大程度上减轻了离婚对个人幸福的负面影响？虽然灰色离婚正在加速，但社会科学家对晚年发生的离婚和重新伴侣缺乏基本的了解。我们使用1992-2010年健康与退休研究的前瞻性纵向数据来开始填补这一关键空白。我们估计离散时间事件历史模型来评估生命过程因素（例如，空巢，退休，健康状况不佳），这些都与灰色离婚和随后的重新=合作有关。而且，我们使用潜在增长模型来研究灰色离婚如何与健康和经济福祉的轨迹相关联，以及重新合作在多大程度上提供了可观的福祉收益。在整个项目中，我们评估了性别，婚姻顺序和队列的变化。灰色离婚的影响是巨大的，不仅塑造了夫妇，而且还塑造了家庭成员的福祉，如子女和孙辈，并对为老年人及其家庭设计的更广泛的机构支持系统提出了要求。整个社会将需要对老年人可获得的家庭资源和支持的变化（以及可能减少）作出反应。因此，该项目符合NIA在其世纪老龄化研究战略计划中描述的研究优先事项。该项目充分结合了两个本科生和一个研究生研究助理，让学生接触研究过程的各个阶段，并提高BGSU的研究环境。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The gray divorce rate has doubled in the past two decades, rising from 5 to 10 divorces per 1,000 married population ages 50 and older. More than 1 in 4 people who divorced in 2010 were ages 50+ compared with less than 1 in 10 in 1990. The recent rise in gray divorce coupled with the aging of the population foregrounds the urgency of investigating the life course factors associated with divorce during older adulthood and the ramifications for individual well-being. It also raises new questions about what happens after a gray divorce: how common is re-partnering, whether through cohabitation or remarriage, and to what extent does re-partnering ameliorate any negative effects of divorce on individual well-being? Although gray divorce is accelerating, social scientists lack a basic understanding of divorce and re-partnering that occur during later life. We use prospective, longitudinal data from the 1992-2010 Health and Retirement Study to begin to fill this critical gap. We estimate discrete time event history models to assess the life course factors (e.g., empty nest, retirement, and poor health) that are associated with gray divorce and subsequent re=partnering. And, we use latent growth models to investigate how gray divorce is linked to trajectories in health and economic well-being, as well as the extent to which re-partnering offers appreciable gains in well-being. Throughout the project, we assess variation by gender, marriage order, and cohort. The implications of gray divorce are substantial, shaping not only the couple but also the well-being of family members, such as children and grandchildren, and the demands placed on broader institutional support systems designed for older adults and their families. Society at large will need to respond to the shifting (and potentially diminishing) family resources and supports that are available to older adults. As such, this project aligns with the research priorities of the NIA described in its strategic plan for research on aging in the 21st century. Ths 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.