Divorce

Half of the parents sixty years and older with ever-married children have experienced a child's divorce, thus divorce is a common event for a large proportion of people in middle age and old age (Spitze et al. 1994). Nevertheless, studies of divorce's effects upon parents has been overshadowed by the large literature on its effects upon children of the divorcing parents. When studies of the parents of divorced individuals are reported, parents are usually depicted in the context of being a grandparent, a role that is derived from and regulated by their child. This research concentrates upon the parents and adult children who have minor children. Whereas most research on the effects of divorce focuses on the adaptation of children of divorce, there has been increasing interest in the effects an adult child's divorce may have on members of the extended family.