Risk of Divorce Among Older Married Couples Increases when Wives Become Seriously ill

Till death do us part.. Not anymore!! Among older married couples, a wife's serious illness increases the risk of divorce, a new study reveals.

Reasons for failed marriages are often given as either infidelity, financial issues, abuse, poor communication or boredom. Most attempt to work toward keeping their marriage vows intact by staying together in sickness and health. But the same does not hold true for the older married couples and a new study found that divorce rates are higher in this group when the wife gets sick.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research found that risk of divorce is high among older married couples when wife and not husbands get seriously ill.  The study analyzed 20 years of data on 2,717 marriages from Health and Retirement Study that was conducted by ISR since 1992.  When the first interview was conducted at least one of the partners was over the age of 50.

"Married women diagnosed with a serious health condition may find themselves struggling with the impact of their disease while also experiencing the stress of divorce," says Amelia Karraker, a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR). The study was co-authored by Kenzie Latham of the Indiana University-Purdue University.

As part of the study, the researchers looked at how the onset of any of the four serious physical illnesses; mainly cancer, heart problems, lung disease and stroke, affects marriage leading to an increased risk of divorce.

On analyzing the data the researchers saw that 31 percent of marriages ended in divorce over the period studied. The incidence of chronic illness onset elevated over time with more husbands than wives developing serious health issues.

"We found that women are doubly vulnerable to marital dissolution in the face of illness," says Karraker.  "They are more likely to be widowed, and if they are the ones who become ill, they are more likely to get divorced."

The study, though, did not assess why the risk of divorce increases only when wives and not husbands became seriously ill.

"Gender norms and social expectations about caregiving may make it more difficult for men to provide care to ill spouses," Karraker speculates.  "And because of the imbalance in marriage markets especially in older ages, divorced men have more choices among prospective partners than divorced women. We did not have information on who initiated divorce in this study.  But it's important to keep in mind that in most cases, it's women who do so.  So it could be that when women become ill and their husbands are not doing a very good job caring for them, they would rather that he just go and they rely on friends and family who will take care of them."

The researchers suggest that the policymakers should be aware of the strong association between disease and the risk of divorce. The only effective method to lower marital strain and avoid divorce at older age is by providing support services to spousal caregivers. 

The study was documented presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America.