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Antecedents of 'Grey Divorces' in Europe: The Role of Children and Grandchildren

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Abstract

So-called 'grey divorces' – i.e. voluntary union dissolutions after age 50 – have received growing attention in the press as well as non-academic discourse. Nonetheless, while there is a vast amount of research on the socio-demographic, health-related and economic consequences of divorce at older ages, few studies have analysed the trends and correlates of grey divorces. Moreover, these studies are largely limited to the United States. This paper aims to fill this gap using data from six waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We document the antecedents of divorce in later life across Europe, shedding light on a rare but demographically and sociologically interesting phenomenon. Our results show that the determinants of grey divorce largely do not differ from the classical antecedents of divorce early in life. However, we also detected and discuss a few determinants specific to grey divorces, such as the presence of children and grandchildren.

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  • Giammarco Alderotti & Cecilia Tomassini & Daniele Vignoli, 2020. "Antecedents of 'Grey Divorces' in Europe: The Role of Children and Grandchildren," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2020_08, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    • Handle: RePEc:fir:econom:wp2020_08
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    File URL: https://labdisia.disia.unifi.it/wp_disia/2020/wp_disia_2020_08.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Grey divorces; Union dissolution; Children; Grandchildren; Ageing; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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