Repartnering and trajectories of life satisfaction after separation and divorce in middle and later life

2021 ◽  
pp. 026540752110095
Author(s):  
Sandra Gloor ◽  
Stefanie Gonin-Spahni ◽  
Hansjörg Znoj ◽  
Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Marital Dissolution ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Adjustment Process ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Aged People ◽  
Initial Recovery ◽  
Trait Resilience

Separation and divorce are life events that might alter life satisfaction on the long term. Previous literature suggests a recovery of life satisfaction after marital dissolution for most individuals, simultaneously emphasizing considerable heterogeneity in the extent and timing of such adaptation. A new partnership seems to be a promising factor for a positive post-separation adjustment process. At the same time, the question arises whether people with beneficial characteristics, such as higher trait resilience, may have a double advantage by recovering faster and being more likely to find a new partner. However, little research has concurrently investigated the consequences of repartnering and favorable personal attributes on life satisfaction of middle- and older-aged people, especially not beyond the initial recovery period. Our data stem from a three-wave longitudinal questionnaire study including 199 participants after a separation, all single at the beginning of the study. Latent growth modeling was applied to investigate trajectories of life satisfaction, examining the role of a new intimate partnership, while controlling for trait resilience. Trait resilience represented a strong general predictor for inter-individual differences in the initial level of life satisfaction. However, an increase in life satisfaction over time was only observed in the group of participants who engaged in a new partnership. This increase occurred independently of preexisting differences in beneficial characteristics, such as high levels of trait resilience or life satisfaction. Thus, repartnering is associated with improvement of life satisfaction beyond the first adaptation phase after separation and is therefore important to prevent long-term negative consequences.

scholarly journals Trajectories of Psychological Adaptation to Marital Breakup after a Long-Term Marriage

Gerontology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 541-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bina Knöpfli ◽  
Davide Morselli ◽  
Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello
Keyword(s):  
Marital Dissolution ◽  
Psychological Adaptation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Health ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Transition Analysis ◽  
Relationship Length ◽  
Trait Resilience ◽  
The Impact

Background: Marital dissolution is known to be among the most stressful life events with long-reaching negative consequences on individuals' lives. A limitation in research to date is that most studies have focused on the impact of marital disruption on well-being outcomes in younger adults. Furthermore, although population-based studies on divorce document a broad range of negative effects, more fine-grained analyses reveal a large heterogeneity in people's adjustment, which is still not well understood. Objective: The aim was to explore trajectories of psychological adaptation to marital breakup after a long-term marriage, and to examine variables accounting for recovery or chronicity in terms of intrapersonal resources (personality, trait resilience, and personal growth), relationship variables (satisfaction with ex-relationship, length of marriage, and time since divorce), and sociodemographic variables (age, gender, and financial situation). Methods: Latent transition analysis is used to examine the course of psychological adaptation (i.e., depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, hopelessness, mourning, and subjective health) to divorce over 2 years among 5 profiles of 308 divorcees (mean age: 55.6 years; average duration of former marriage: 23.62 years). We present two larger groups of individuals, one of which adapted very well (‘resilients', 29%) and the other quite well (‘average copers', 49%), as well as three groups with major difficulties (‘vulnerables', 6%; ‘malcontents', 12%, and ‘resigned', 4%). In a second step, the differences between transition patterns were explored on the basis of the distal variables (i.e., intrapersonal resources, relationship variables, and sociodemographics). Results: Although the probability of upward changes was higher for those individuals with lower adaptation at time point 1, only a small number of individuals made an upward change from the maladapted to the well-adapted groups throughout the 2 years. The groups of copers and resilients remained stable in their psychological adaptation. The most consistent results related to upward changes were intrapersonal resources, namely the NEO personality traits and trait resilience. Conclusion: The majority of individuals divorcing after a long-term marriage adapt successfully over time. Adaptation trajectories depend primarily on intrapersonal resources. However, a minority of divorcees exhibit enduring difficulties. Knowledge about the diversity of these trajectories of vulnerability could be of great help for designing psychological interventions to better tackle this critical life event.

Let’s Drink to Being Socially Active: Family Characteristics, Social Participation, and Alcohol Abuse across Mid- and Later-life

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-469
Author(s):  
Eric M. Vogelsang ◽  
Joseph T. Lariscy
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Drinking Behavior ◽  
Marital Dissolution ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Family Characteristics ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Linked Lives ◽  
Using Data

Researchers and practitioners often extol the health benefits of social relationships and social participation for older adults. Yet they often ignore how these same bonds and activities may contribute to negative health behaviors. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (16,065 observations from 7,007 respondents), we examined how family characteristics, family history, and social participation predicted three measures of alcohol abuse between ages 53 and 71. Results indicate that, generally, greater social participation is associated with increased drinking days per month. We also found that religious participation and having ever lived with an alcoholic are each associated with reporting possible alcohol dependence but not with alcohol consumption itself. Lastly, we identified gendered associations between marital dissolution and drinking behavior. These findings contextualize the increasing rates of alcohol abuse among older adults by emphasizing the possible negative consequences of “linked lives” on health via relationship stress and group norms.

scholarly journals Adult neurobehavioral outcome of hyperbilirubinemia in full term neonates – a 30 year prospective follow-up study

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hokkanen ◽  
Jyrki Launes ◽  
Katarina Michelsson
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Exchange Transfusion ◽  
Family Type ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
Growth Environment ◽  
Blood Exchange ◽  
Blood Exchange Transfusion

Background. Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (HB) may cause severe neurological damage, but serious consequences are effectively controlled by phototherapy and blood exchange transfusion. HB is still a serious health problem in economically compromised parts of the world. The long term outcome has been regarded favorable based on epidemiological data, but has not been confirmed in prospective follow-up studies extending to adulthood.Methods. We studied the long term consequences of HB in a prospective birth cohort of 128 HB cases and 82 controls. The cases are part of a neonatal at-risk cohort (n=1196) that has been followed up to 30 years of age. HB cases were newborns ≥ 2500 g birth weight and ≥ 37 weeks of gestation who had bilirubin concentrations > 340µmol/l or required blood exchange transfusion. Subjects with HB were divided into subgroups based on the presence (affected HB) or absence (unaffected HB) of diagnosed neurobehavioral disorders in childhood, and compared with healthy controls. Subjects were seen at discharge, 5, 9 and 16 years of life and parent’s and teacher’s assessments were recorded. At 30 years they filled a questionnaire about academic and occupational achievement, life satisfaction, somatic and psychiatric symptoms including a ADHD self-rating score. Cognitive functioning was tested using ITPA, WISC, and reading and writing tests at 9 years of life. Results. Compared to controls, the odds for a child with HB having neurobehavioral symptoms at 9 years was elevated (OR=4.68). Fortyfive per cent of the HB group were affected by cognitive abnormalities in childhood and continued to experience problems in adulthood. This was apparent in academic achievement (p<0.0001) and the ability to complete secondary (p<0.0001) and tertiary (p<0.004) education. Also, the subgroup of affected HB reported persisting cognitive complaints e.g. problems with reading, writing and mathematics. Childhood symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity (p<0.0001) and inattention (p<0.02) were more common in HB groups, but in adulthood the symptoms were equal. The affected HB had lower scores in parameters reflecting life satisfaction, less controlled drinking, but not increased substance abuse. Discussion. Our results indicate that neonatal HB has negative consequences in adult age. A prospectively collected cohort with strict inclusion criteria enables to control most of the bias factors involved with retrospective data. The control and HB groups were remarkably similar at birth in terms of medical data, and the growth environment of the children, as well as the parents’ social groups, education, size of family, type of housing at birth and at 9 years of age. Our findings bear resemblance to disorders of the fronto-striatal network, and also symptoms of the ADHD spectrum were frequent in the HB group suggesting a link of HB to other neurodevelopmental disorders.

scholarly journals Concentration of Critical Events over the Life Course and Life Satisfaction later in life

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara L. Comolli ◽  
Danilo Bolano ◽  
Laura Bernardi ◽  
Marieke Voorpostel
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Critical Events ◽  
Family Work ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Life Course

Critical events are occurrences that create turning points, disrupt individuals’ life courses and affect wellbeing. Here, we investigate how the co-occurrence of critical events and, in particular, the spacing in time of events across the life course influences life satisfaction in later life. We argue that life phases densely populated of critical events may translate into an acute resource drain affecting wellbeing in long term more strongly than if the same events were sparsely distributed. We use retrospective biographical information on critical events in family, work, health and residential trajectories in Switzerland to construct a life course Concentration Index of events based on the number, the time-lag between the occurrences and the number of life domains involved. Our results show that the higher is the concentration in time of critical events, the stronger will be their negative long-term effect on wellbeing, net of socio-demographic characteristics, of the total number of events ever experienced and of the time since the last event. Furthermore, such negative effect is even stronger if the person experienced periods dense of events during midlife and older adulthood than during youth or early adulthood.

scholarly journals Long-term Outcomes of Military Service in Aging and the Life Course: A Positive Re-envisioning

2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avron Spiro ◽  
Richard A. Settersten ◽  
Carolyn M. Aldwin
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Long Term Outcomes ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Most research on military service focuses on its short-term negative consequences, especially the mental and physical injuries of those deployed in warzones. However, studies of long-term outcomes reveal surprisingly positive effects of military service—both those early in adulthood that grow over time and others that can emerge later in life. These multidomain effects have been found in veterans of World War II and the Korean War and are now being seen in veterans of the Vietnam War. Although some are directly attributable to public policies such as the GI Bill, which facilitate educational and economic gains, there are personal developmental gains as well, including autonomy, emotional maturity and resilience, mastery, and leadership skills, that lead to better health and well-being in later life. These long-term effects vary across persons, change over time within persons, and often reflect processes of cumulative advantage and disadvantage. We propose a life-span model of the effects of military service that provides a perspective for probing both long-term positive and negative outcomes for aging veterans. We further explicate the model by focusing on both sociocultural dynamics and individual processes. We identify public-use data that can be examined to evaluate this model, and offer a set of questions that can be used to assess military service. Finally, we outline an agenda for dedicated inquiry into such effects and consider policy implications for the health and well-being of aging veterans in later life.

The Creative Benefits Scale

2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn E. Adams-Price ◽  
Danielle K. Nadorff ◽  
Linda W. Morse ◽  
Katherine T. Davis ◽  
Melanie A. Stearns
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Older People ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Proposed Model

Long-term participation in creative activities has benefits for middle-aged and older people that may improve their adaptation to later life. We first investigated the factor structure of the Creative Benefits Scale and then used it to construct a model to help explain the connection between generativity and life satisfaction in adults who participated in creative hobbies. Participants included 546 adults between the ages of 40 and 88 (Mean = 58.30 years) who completed measures of life satisfaction, generativity, and the Creative Benefits Scale with its factors of Identity, Calming, Spirituality, and Recognition. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the connection of age with life satisfaction in older adults and to explore the effects of creativity on this relation. The proposed model of life satisfaction, incorporating age, creativity, and generativity, fit the data well, indicating that creativity may help explain the link between the generativity and life satisfaction.

scholarly journals Adult neurobehavioral outcome of hyperbilirubinemia in full term neonates – a 30 year prospective follow-up study

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hokkanen ◽  
Jyrki Launes ◽  
Katarina Michelsson
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Exchange Transfusion ◽  
Family Type ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
Growth Environment ◽  
Blood Exchange ◽  
Blood Exchange Transfusion

Background. Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (HB) may cause severe neurological damage, but serious consequences are effectively controlled by phototherapy and blood exchange transfusion. HB is still a serious health problem in economically compromised parts of the world. The long term outcome has been regarded favorable based on epidemiological data, but has not been confirmed in prospective follow-up studies extending to adulthood.Methods. We studied the long term consequences of HB in a prospective birth cohort of 128 HB cases and 82 controls. The cases are part of a neonatal at-risk cohort (n=1196) that has been followed up to 30 years of age. HB cases were newborns ≥ 2500 g birth weight and ≥ 37 weeks of gestation who had bilirubin concentrations > 340µmol/l or required blood exchange transfusion. Subjects with HB were divided into subgroups based on the presence (affected HB) or absence (unaffected HB) of diagnosed neurobehavioral disorders in childhood, and compared with healthy controls. Subjects were seen at discharge, 5, 9 and 16 years of life and parent’s and teacher’s assessments were recorded. At 30 years they filled a questionnaire about academic and occupational achievement, life satisfaction, somatic and psychiatric symptoms including a ADHD self-rating score. Cognitive functioning was tested using ITPA, WISC, and reading and writing tests at 9 years of life. Results. Compared to controls, the odds for a child with HB having neurobehavioral symptoms at 9 years was elevated (OR=4.68). Fortyfive per cent of the HB group were affected by cognitive abnormalities in childhood and continued to experience problems in adulthood. This was apparent in academic achievement (p<0.0001) and the ability to complete secondary (p<0.0001) and tertiary (p<0.004) education. Also, the subgroup of affected HB reported persisting cognitive complaints e.g. problems with reading, writing and mathematics. Childhood symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity (p<0.0001) and inattention (p<0.02) were more common in HB groups, but in adulthood the symptoms were equal. The affected HB had lower scores in parameters reflecting life satisfaction, less controlled drinking, but not increased substance abuse. Discussion. Our results indicate that neonatal HB has negative consequences in adult age. A prospectively collected cohort with strict inclusion criteria enables to control most of the bias factors involved with retrospective data. The control and HB groups were remarkably similar at birth in terms of medical data, and the growth environment of the children, as well as the parents’ social groups, education, size of family, type of housing at birth and at 9 years of age. Our findings bear resemblance to disorders of the fronto-striatal network, and also symptoms of the ADHD spectrum were frequent in the HB group suggesting a link of HB to other neurodevelopmental disorders.

scholarly journals Depressive Symptoms Following Later-life Marital Dissolution and Subsequent Repartnering

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-Fen Lin ◽  
Susan L. Brown ◽  
Matthew R. Wright ◽  
Anna M. Hammersmith
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Marital Dissolution ◽  
Divorce Rate ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Lower Elevation ◽  
Initial Reduction ◽  
Retirement Study

The doubling of the divorce rate among individuals over age 50 during the past 20 years underscores the urgency of studying the consequences of gray divorce and subsequent repartnering for adult well-being. We filled this gap by using the 1998-to-2014 Health and Retirement Study to evaluate how the levels of depressive symptoms changed following gray divorce versus widowhood. Individuals who divorced or became widowed already had experienced higher levels of depressive symptoms before dissolution relative to those who remained married. Compared with those who became widowed, those who transitioned to divorce experienced a lower elevation and a shorter time to recovery in depressive symptoms. When repartnering, both groups experienced similar magnitudes of initial reduction and subsequent rates of increase. Both the negative consequences of marital dissolution and the beneficial effects of repartnership for mental health persisted for several years, although ultimately they reverted to their predissolution levels of depressive symptoms.

scholarly journals Life Satisfaction in Later Life: The Interplay of Marital Condition and Income among Elderly Koreans

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3483
Author(s):  
Sung-Ha Lee ◽  
Jiyoun Lee ◽  
Incheol Choi
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Marital Satisfaction ◽  
Marital Status ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Marital Quality ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Beneficial Effects

Although both marital status and economic conditions significantly contribute to life satisfaction in later life, the effect of their interaction (or moderating) on life satisfaction has been understudied. Our goal was to examine whether marriage buffers the negative consequences of low income among elderly people. Using two large national survey datasets, the Korean Community Health Survey (n = 126,936) and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) (n = 5687), we examined the relationship between household income, marital condition (marital status and marital satisfaction), and life satisfaction in Korean adults over 50. We found that increases in life satisfaction among individuals aged 50 and over were associated with higher income, marital status, and spousal satisfaction. We also determined that the beneficial effects of marriage, as well as marital quality, on life satisfaction are stronger in men. Moreover, separated/divorced status, but not bereavement or single status, moderated the effects of household income, such that the adverse effects of poverty were particularly pronounced among those who were separated/divorced. Furthermore, spousal satisfaction also moderated the effect of household income on life satisfaction among married men, indicating that marital satisfaction amplifies the effect of favorable economic conditions on life satisfaction. Because economic condition and relationship status are two key determinants of life satisfaction, understanding their interactions can improve overall predictions of life satisfaction.

scholarly journals The Crucial Factors and Prospects for the Recovery of the World Economy in the Global COVID-19 Recession

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (515) ◽  
pp. 39-46
Author(s):  
N. G. Kalyuzhna ◽  
◽  
T. K. Kovtun ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Global Recession ◽  
The World ◽  
Foreign Trade Turnover

The article focuses on identifying and systematizing the hallmarks of the COVID-19 recession as unprecedented in terms of the both spread and impact on the global economy in the phase of business activity downturn. The dynamics of the main indicators of economic growth are researched and it is substantiated that the negative linear forecast trends allow forecasting the long-term recovery period after the current global recession. It is shown that the global recession of 2020 negatively affects the prospects for the recovery of major national economies of the world, given the high probability of the introduction of repeated quarantine restrictions. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of the index of global economic uncertainty, the world economy is confirmed to be in the most uncertain state during the period of observations. According to the analysis of the values of the barometer of world trade in goods in 2020, negative changes in the structure and dynamics of foreign trade turnover and doubt for the rapid recovery of global supply chains were evidenced. Based on the generalization of the results of the study, key distinctive signs of the COVID-19 economic recession have been systematized justifying that, in addition to any recession inherent in the loss of growth rate of world production, the current economic crisis is accompanied by a drop reaching the critical deadlines of a number of indicators of the intensity of global development, which confirms its unprecedented spread and impact on the world economy. It is substantiated that the confirmation of the determined trends allows to predict the long-term negative consequences of the modern global recession, which leads to the need to substantiate the directions of recovery of the world economy and foreign trade cooperation of the countries under crisis conditions.

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