The transition to mid-life divorce

摘要

How long do older divorcees deliberate divorce? The answer identifies factors that either slow or hasten divorce. By comparison, extant studies investigate only marriage durations and fail to account for an individual’s maturity. To control for maturity, I focus on divorcees over 40 years old. Outside interference from stepchildren and/or in-laws significantly hastens the divorce decision, followed by sexual issues and/or a poor match. Intolerance of outside interference is explained by Hamilton’s rule on genetics, with other problems explained by Becker’s insights on the gains from marriage. Studying marital problems among older divorcees yields lessons for all age groups.