According to a recent article in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, although overall divorce rates have declined in recent years in the United States, among seniors, it has increased significantly.
“"Now one in four people getting divorced is over the age of 50. In 1990, it was less than one in 10,” said Susan Brown, National Center for Family & Marriage Research in Bowling Green, Ohio.
According to the news source, in her research, Brown discovered that among those aged 50 to 64, the divorce rate ballooned from only 6.9 per 1,000 in 1990 to almost double that number – 12.6 – in 2009. In the United States as a whole, the divorce rate declined slightly.
Some of the potential reasons for divorce among aging Baby Boomers is the stress associated with life changes as they happen in retirement. For example, for a large part of a married couple’s life, at least one of the spouses is gone for much of the day at work, and the time spent together is primarily in evenings and weekends.
After retirement, however, when there is so much time being spent together, the news article suggests retired couples re-introduce themselves to each other to help them cope with their changed environment.