Relationship Quality Change Among Partnered Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Marital Status and Happiness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective

This study examines the long-observed marital advantage in happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic may have altered the marital advantage in happiness due to changes in social integration processes. However, this has not been explored in previous studies.

Method

Data were from the COVID-19 substudy of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N=2622). A series of regressions were estimated to understand marital status differences in pandemic happiness and changes in relationships with non-resident family and friends. Karlson-Holm-Breen mediation analysis was conducted to examine whether relationships with non-resident family and friends explained the marital association with pandemic happiness.

Results

From pre-pandemic to pandemic, married respondents experienced a greater increase in unhappiness than unmarried counterparts, narrowing happiness gaps. However, unmarried individuals, including cohabiting, divorced, widowed, and never married individuals, continued to report higher levels of unhappiness during the pandemic than married peers. These differences primarily stemmed from pre-pandemic happiness. After controlling for pre-pandemic happiness, cohabiting, widowed, and never married older adults did not significantly differ from their married counterparts in reporting unhappiness during the pandemic. In contrast, divorced individuals remained consistently more unhappy than married individuals during the pandemic, mainly due to deteriorated relationship quality with non-resident family.

Conclusion

During a global crisis, it is crucial for policymakers, healthcare providers, and researchers to develop innovative interventions to promote happiness and healthy aging among all older adults, paying special attention to those who are divorced.

Gray Divorce During the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVES

Drawing on emerging evidence that the pandemic appears to have impeded both the divorce process and actual divorces, we examined whether the gray divorce rate (i.e., divorce among adults aged 50+) declined following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Data from the 2019 and 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) were used to track changes in gray divorce. With the 2021 ACS, we estimated pandemic-era gray divorce rates across sociodemographic subgroups for middle-aged and older adults. We then pooled the 2019 (N = 892,700) and 2021 (N = 898,828) data to examine whether the risk of divorce changed with the onset of the pandemic net of sociodemographic characteristics, distinguishing trends for middle-aged versus older adults.

RESULTS

The gray divorce rate dropped following the onset of the pandemic. This drop was more pronounced among middle-aged than older adults. For older adults, the divorce rate essentially stalled.

DISCUSSION

The gray divorce rate now mirrors the overall trend of modest decline in U.S. divorce patterns. Whether the gray divorce rate continues to shrink as society transitions to a postpandemic environment awaits future research.