Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T01:55:23.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The long-term consequences of partnership dissolution for support in later life in the United Kingdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2008

KAREN GLASER ,
RACHEL STUCHBURY ,
CECILIA TOMASSINI  and
JANET ASKHAM
KAREN GLASER*
Affiliation:
Institute of Gerontology, School of Social Science and Public Policy, King's College London, UK.
RACHEL STUCHBURY
Affiliation:
Institute of Gerontology, School of Social Science and Public Policy, King's College London, UK.
CECILIA TOMASSINI
Affiliation:
Department of Economic and Social Sciences, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy.
JANET ASKHAM
Affiliation:
School of Social Science and Public Policy, King's College London, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Karen Glaser, Institute of Gerontology, King's College London, Melbourne House, Strand, London WC2R 2LS. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There has long been an interest in the United Kingdom about whether and how changes in family life affect support for older people, but nevertheless the consequences of partnership dissolution for late-life support have been little researched. Using data from the British Household Panel Study (1991–2003), this study investigated the longitudinal association between partnership dissolution and two types of support for 1,966 people aged 70 or more years: (i) informal support from children in the form of contacts and help (e.g. household assistance including care), and (ii) formal support from community care services (i.e. health visitor or district nurse, home-help and meals-on-wheels). The paper also examines the level of reported support among: (i) all parents aged 70 or more years and (ii) 1,453 unpartnered parents in the same age group (i.e. those lacking the most important source of support in later life: a spouse). We found diversity in the experience of partnership dissolution in the past lives of people aged 70 or more years. Patterns of support varied by the respondent's age, whether partnered, the timing and type of partnership dissolution, and by gender, having a daughter and health status. Overall, however, partnership dissolution did not show the expected detrimental relationship with later-life support. Health needs and increasing age were strongly associated with increases in contact and informal and formal help, regardless of family history.

Keywords

partnership dissolutionolder peopledivorcesupportcommunity care services
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , April 2008 , pp. 329 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aquilino, W. S. 1994. Impact of childhood family disruption on young adults' relationships with parents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 4, 295–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Askham, J., Ferring, D. and Lamura, G. 2007. Personal relationships in later life. In Bond, J., Peace, S., Dittmann-Kohli, F. and Westerhof, G. J. (eds) Ageing in Society. Sage, London, 186–208.Google Scholar
Barrera, M. 1986. Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 4, 413–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, A. E. and Lynch, S. M. 1999. Caregiving networks of elderly persons: variation by marital status. The Gerontologist, 39, 6, 695–704.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bulcroft, K. A. and Bulcroft, R. A. 1991. The timing of divorce, effects on parent-child relationships in later life. Research on Aging, 13, 2, 226–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, T. W. 2007. The structure of intergenerational exchanges in the UK. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Session 54, ‘Family Relationships and Exchanges’, New York City, March 29–31.Google Scholar
Cherlin, A. 1981, 1992. Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Cooney, T. M. and Uhlenberg, P. 1990. The role of divorce in men's relations with their adult children after mid-life. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 3, 677–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crimmins, E. M. and Ingegneri, D. G. 1990. Interaction and living arrangements of older parents and their children. Research on Aging, 12, 1, 3–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curran, S., McLanahan, S. and Knab, J. 2003. Does remarriage expand perceptions of kinship support among the elderly? Social Science Research, 32, 2, 171–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dykstra, P. A. 1997. The effects of divorce on intergenerational exchanges in families. Netherlands Journal of Social Sciences, 33, 77–93.Google Scholar
Eggebeen, D. J. 1992. Family structure and intergenerational exchanges. Research on Aging, 14, 4, 427–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ermisch, J., Francesconi, M., Berthoud, R. and Gershuny, J. 2000. Patterns of household and family formation. In Berthoud, R. and Gershuny, J (eds) Seven Years in the Lives of British Families: Evidence on the Dynamics of Social Change from the British Household Panel Survey. Policy, Bristol, Avon, 21–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finch, J. 1995. Responsibilities, obligations and commitments. In Allen, I. and Perkins, E. (eds) The Future of Family Care for Older People. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 51–64.Google Scholar
Furstenberg, F. F., Hoffman, S. D. and Shrestha, L. 1995. The effect of divorce on intergenerational transfers: new evidence. Demography, 32, 3, 319–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ganong, L., Coleman, M., McDaniel, A. K. and Killian, T. 1998. Attitudes regarding obligations to assist an older parent or stepparent following later-life remarriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 3, 595–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaser, K. and Tomassini, C. 2000. Proximity of older women to their children: a comparison of Britain and Italy. The Gerontologist, 40, 6, 729–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glaser, K., Rosero-Bixby, L., Puga, M. D., Castro Martin, T. and Agree, A. M. 2007. Determinants of support among older people: a comparative study of Costa Rica, Spain and England. Paper presented at the Scientific Panel on Ageing in Developing Countries of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, Santiago, Chile, April 23–24.Google Scholar
Goldscheider, F. K. and Lawton, L. 1998. Family experiences and the erosion of support for intergenerational coresidence. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 3, 623–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grundy, E., Murphy, M. and Shelton, N. 1999. Looking beyond the household: intergenerational perspectives on living kin and contact with kin in Great Britain. Population Trends, 97, 19–27.Google Scholar
Grundy, E. and Shelton, N. 2001. Contact between adult children and their parents in Great Britain 1986–1999. Environment and Planning A, 33, 4, 685–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ha, J., Carr, D., Utz, R. L. and Nesse, R. 2006. Older adults' perceptions of intergenerational support after widowhood: how do men and women differ? Journal of Family Issues, 27, 1, 3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henretta, J. C., Grundy, E. and Harris, S. 2001. Socio-economic differences in having living parents and children: a US-British comparison of middle aged women. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 3, 852–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermalin, A. I. 2000. Challenges to Comparative Research on Intergenerational Transfers. Report 00-56, Population Studies Centre, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Hermalin, A. I. 2002. Theoretical perspectives, measurement issues, and related research. In Hermalin, A. I. (ed.) The Well-being of the Elderly in Asia. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 101–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, J. S., Landis, K. R. and Umberson, D. 1988. Social relationships and health. Science, 241, 4865. 540–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobozone, S., Cambois, E., Chaplain, E. and Robine, J. M. 1998. The health of older persons in OECD countries: is it improving fast enough to compensate for population ageing? In OECD (ed.), Labour Market and Social Policy. Occasional Paper 27, OECD, Paris, 1–65.Google Scholar
Kalmijn, M. 2007. Gender differences in the effects of divorce, widowhood, and remarriage on intergenerational support: does marriage protect fathers? Social Forces, 86, 3, 1079–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lye, D. N., Klepinger, D. H., Hyle, P. D. and Nelson, A. 1995. Childhood living arrangements and adult children's relations with their parents. Demography, 32, 2, 261–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacDonald, A. and Cooper, B. 2007. Long-term care and dementia services: an impending crisis. Age and Ageing, 36, 1, 16–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGarry, K. and Schoeni, R. F. 1995. Transfer behavior in the Health and Retirement Study: measurement and the redistribution of resources within the family. Journal of Human Resources, 30, 0, S184–226. (Special issue, Health and Retirement Study: Data Quality and Early Results.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys 1991. Standard Occupational Classification, Volume 3: Social Classifications and Coding Methodology. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Pezzin, L. E. and Schone, B. S. 1999. Parental marital disruption and intergenerational transfers: an analysis of lone elderly parents and their children. Demography, 36, 3, 287–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rendall, M. S., Clarke, L., Peters, H. E., Ranjit, N. and Verropoulou, G. 1999. Incomplete reporting of men's fertility in the United States and Britain: a research note. Demography, 36, 1, 135–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roan, C. L. and Raley, R. K. 1996. Intergenerational coresidence and contact: a longitudinal analysis of adult children's response to their mother's widowhood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 3, 708–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, C. J., Martin-Matthews, A. and Matthews, S. H. 1996. Caught in the middle? Occupancy in multiple roles and help to parents in a national probability sample of Canadian adults. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 51B, 6, S274–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, A. 2003. Later-life divorce and parent-adult child contact and proximity. Journal of Family Issues, 24, 2, 264–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soldo, B. J. and Hill, M. S. 1993. Intergenerational transfers: economic, demographic, and social perspectives. In Maddox, G. and Lawton, M. P. (eds) Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 187–216.Google Scholar
Soldo, B. J. and Hill, M. 1995. Family structure and transfer measures in the Health and Retirement Survey. Journal of Human Resources, 30, 0, S108–37. (Special issue, Health and Retirement Study: Data Quality and Early Results.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitze, G. and Logan, J. R. 1992. Helping as a component of parent-adult child relations. Research on Aging, 14, 3, 291–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuchbury, R., Glaser, K., Tomassini, C. and Askham, J. 2005. Married or single: which shall I tick? Findings from a study of BHPS marital status data. Paper presented at the 2005 BHPS Research Conference, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, June 30–2 July. Available online at http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps/2005/docs/pdf/papers/stuchbury.pdf [Accessed 28 March 2006].Google Scholar
Taylor, M. F.(ed.) with Brice, J., Buck, N. and Prentice-Lane, E. 2007. British Household Panel Survey User Manual Volume A: Introduction, Technical Report and Appendices. Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester, Available online at http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/ulsc/bhps/doc/pdf_versions/volumes/bhpsvola.pdf [Accessed 4 July 2007].Google Scholar
Thornton, A. and Young-DeMarco, L. 2001. Four decades of trends in attitudes toward family issues in the United States. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 4, 1009–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomassini, C., Glaser, K. and Askham, J. 2003. Getting by without a spouse: living arrangements and support of older people in Italy and Britain. In Arber, S., Davidson, K. and Ginn, J. (eds) Gender and Ageing: Changing Roles and Relationships. McGraw Hill, London, 111–26.Google Scholar
Tomassini, C., Kalogirou, S., Grundy, E., Fokkema, T., Martikainen, P., Broese van Groenou, M. I. and Karisto, A. 2004. Contacts between elderly parents and their children in four European countries: current patterns and future prospects. European Journal of Ageing, 1, 1, 54–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomassini, C., Wolf, D. A. and Rosina, A. 2003. Parental housing assistance and parent-child proximity in Italy. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 65, 3, 700–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wachter, K. W. 1997. Kinship resources for the elderly. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 352, 1363, 1811–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wenger, G. C. 1996. Social networks and gerontology. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 6, 3, 285–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar