The divorce rate among the over 50s – so-called ‘gray
divorce’ – has doubled in the US over the last 20 year according to a new
study.

The study, published in the current issue of the
Journal of Gerontology, shows that ‘gray divorce’ now account for a quarter of
all divorces.

The study authors attribute the increase to a number
of factors including that many older married people are in second marriages and
second marriages break up two and a half times more often than first marriages.

Other factors include the fact that divorce is now
widely accepted in society, growing female participation in the workforce and
increased life expectancy.

The authors recommend: “The
traditional focus of gerontological research on widowhood must be expanded to
include divorce as another form of marital dissolution. Over 600,000 people
aged 50 and older got divorced in 2010 but little is known about the predictors
and consequences of divorces that occur during middle and later life.”