1 in 4 Getting Divorced Are Over 50

Susan L.
Brown is the co-director of the National Center for Family & Marriage
Research at Bowling Green University in Ohio. Her research shows that:

• one in four people
  getting divorced is over the age of 50. In 1990, it was less than one in
  10.
   
• the divorce rate for those 50 to
  64 increased from 6.9 divorces per 1,000 marriages in 1990 to 12.6 in
  2009. At the same time, the overall divorce rate in the United States
  dropped from 18.95 to 17.92.

According to an Orlando Sentinel article, “retired
couples often face difficulties in adjusting to a life together that
doesn’t include work. Spouses who once defined themselves by what they
did at work can experience an identity crisis once they stop working.
Meanwhile, spouses accustomed to being alone most of the day must adjust
to having somebody else around, disrupting their routines. Good
marriages survive that retirement transition. Bad marriages can be made
worse.”

If one or both of the spouses experienced divorce in the past,
they are more at risk to divorce later in life, Brown said. The divorce
rate for aging boomers is twice as high for those who were previously
divorced.