Separating also has long-term effects and they are different by sex

The first study carried out in Spain on separated or divorced older people has shown that these breakups not only usually have immediate effects, but also extend into the long term, and have different effects on men and women.

Marriage breakups not only have immediate consequences, typical of when cohabitation breaks down, but the impact of ending the relationship lasts even for decades, according to research, and becomes a factor of vulnerability in old age.

This condition has special weight when those separated or divorced are people who live alone and have little contact with their children or insufficient social support.

The work, published by the International Journal of Sociology, is signed by the professor of the Department of Sociology of the University of Granada (UGR) Juan López Doblas, and the professor of the Department of Social Psychology María del Pilar Díaz Conde, and is the first study carried out in Spain on separated or divorced older people.

It focuses its attention on those who broke up their marriage many years ago and on how this experience has conditioned their life path and the sources of support they currently have.

In-depth interviews

The study is qualitative, based on in-depth interviews, in whose analysis gender and life course perspectives are applied to understand how past decisions and circumstances determine their quality of life today.

According to its authors, the observed vulnerability is due to processes accumulated throughout their life course, in which marital breakdown, subsequent family relationships and gender inequalities play a key role.

The results show that a significant part of these people have lack of family support and unmet instrumental needs.

Among men, the weakening or even loss of relationships with children after the breakdown of a marriage is common, which reduces the availability of help when health problems, dependency or difficulties in dealing with daily life appear.

"It could be said that they did not know how to differentiate their roles as husband and father, so that marital bankruptcy would also entail their absence from the family scene and detachment from their sons and daughters," the researchers have detailed.

Women generally present a different reality, since they tended to care for their children and maintained family ties over the years, but many suffer economic consequences derived from having assumed parenting.

The research also highlights that many of those interviewed, especially men, present depressive symptoms and are often affected by the feeling of loneliness, despite trying to hide it.