Gray Divorce: An Increasingly Common Path to Uncoupling in Later Life

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

Location: 239 CC

CE: 1.5

Chair(s)

TB

Torbjörn Bildtgård, PhD

Associate professor
Social Work
Stockholms University
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

TB

Torbjörn Bildtgård, PhD

Associate professor
Social Work
Stockholms University
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
P�

Peter Öberg, PhD

Professor
Department of Social Work and Criminology
University of Gävle
Gävle, Gavleborgs Lan, Sweden
SB

Susan Brown, PhD

Distinguished Professor
Sociology
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio, United States
Chaya Koren, Ph.D

University Faculty member
School of Social Work and the Center for the Study of Society
University of Haifa
Haifa, Hefa, Israel
Jacquelyn Benson, PhD

Associate Professor of Palliative Medicine
Dept. of Medicine | Division of Palliative Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis
Columbia, Missouri, United States

Late life divorce is rapidly increasing in large parts of the Western world, in what has been described as a “gray divorce revolution”. In the US the incidence of gray divorce doubled between 1990 and 2010, in Sweden it has more than doubled since the millennium and in Israel it has almost doubled since 1996. Still, gray divorce remains rather invisible both in family sociology, which mainly focuses divorce at earlier ages, and in gerontology, which still tends to view widowhood as the single path to late life uncoupling. This symposium introduces current research on gray divorce and addresses a range of questions, such as: Why do people divorce late in life? How does gray divorce affect later life, including economy, health, support networks and relationships to adult children? How do cultural values shape gray divorce? What is the difference between his and her gray divorce? The presenters represent different countries (the US, Israel and Sweden) and approach the topic of gray divorce with both quantitative and qualitative data.

Learning Objectives:

After attending this session, participants will be able to discuss the mechanisms driving late life divorce.
After attending this session, participants will be able to discuss the ways in which gray divorce affects later life.

Presentations:

2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

The Existential Context of Gray Divorce
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Torbjörn M. Bildtgård, PhD – Stockholms University
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

The Dawn of a Society of Divorcees: Changing Patterns of Late Life Civil Status
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Peter Öberg, PhD – University of Gävle
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

Adult Child Proximity and Repartnering Among Parents After Gray Divorce
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Susan L. Brown, PhD – Bowling Green State University
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

The Meaning of Familyhood for Gray Divorce in Israel
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Chaya Koren, Ph.D – University of Haifa
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM ET

Relief, Regrets, and Reinvention: Life after Gray Divorce
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Jacquelyn J. Benson, PhD – Washington University in St. Louis