Baby Boomers Going Solo

 Posted on August 18, 2012 in Divorce

A growing number of older men and women are refusing to get married and going into old age solo, according to The New York Times. "Over the past 20 years," according to the Times, "the divorce rate among baby boomers has surged by more than 50 percent, even as divorce rates over all have stabilized nationally." The same study, conducted by demographers at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, noted that more adults were remaining single across the board. About a third of Americans "ages 46 through 64 were divorced, separated, or had never been married in 2010, compared with 13 percent in 1970."

Elderly people without a spouse face increased challenges of aging, without an immediate, live-in loved one to care for them. Without a spouse, according to the Times, it could mean that federal and local governments will have to pick up the slack that a spouse could care for. "Unmarried baby boomers are five times more likely to live in poverty than their married counterparts," according to statistics in the Times.

Traditional wisdom dictates that married people live longer, and that a person who enters old age solo will not fare as well as his married counterpart. Yet according to WebMD, while "a good marriage is good for your health, a bad one can be a real heartbreaker." Brian Baker, a psychiatrist at the University of Toronto has spent the past 10 years conducting studies "that look at the effect of marital strain on cardiovascular health." One of his most recent followed men and women with borderline high blood pressure for three years. High blood pressure, he found, is "directly linked to what he calls ‘marital cohesion.'"

Considering Baker's research, it could be healthier to divorce than to stay in a bad marriage, even if you are approaching old age. Don't go through it alone. Contact a dedicated Chicago-area divorce attorney today.

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