Economic Situation and Later-Life Divorce: A ‘His’ and ‘Her’ Perspective

Linda Kridahl , Stockholm University
Sofi Ohlsson-Wijk, Stockholm University
Ann-Zofie Duvander, Stockholm University

Many European countries have witnessed a slowly increasing proportion of older individuals who divorce during the last 20-30 years. In Sweden, divorce has doubled for those aged 60+ over this period. The explanations are very much unexplored. The study investigates the role of partners’ combined and own economic situation on divorce propensity among the 60+ population and whether it has changed across cohorts. Event-history analyses based on Swedish population register data for 1930-1956 cohorts, with three explanatory variables: recent individual disposable income, accumulated disposable income, combination of hers and his recent income levels. Results reveal that the main shift across cohorts is a growing risk of divorce in the lower ends of the income distribution whereas differences across cohorts is much smaller at the high-income levels. Over time, divorce becomes increasingly linked to low incomes, especially among women. ‘Her’ economic situation on divorce propensity has made most changes across cohorts.

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 Presented in Session 111. Labour Markets and Couples