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The University of Michigan is the latest to release a study attempting to discover what is causing some older couples to end their marriages. What they found indicates that deteriorating health is a factor in divorce for couples with at least one partner over the age of 50. The study sifted through 20 years of information regarding 2,717 couples.
Some 31 percent of the couples involved in the study ultimately divorced. Other numbers show that as high as 75 percent of the marriages in which one spouse suffered from a chronic illness ended with the couple divorcing. Even though husbands were more likely to suffer an illness than the wife, the instance of divorce was higher when the woman was sick, versus the man.
These findings tend to back up prior studies that indicated the same trend. No one is sure why this happens, but the speculation is that women do not feel they receive sufficient support and care from their husbands, and some feel this could explain why a large portion of the divorces in the study were started by the wives. Another theory is that husbands do not feel they are qualified to deal with their wife’s illness.
Suffering from a chronic illness can be an emotional roller coaster ride. Adding divorce to the mix can sometimes make the situation intolerable. The ill spouse may simply want to get the process over with and may not insist on getting everything to which he or she is entitled under Michigan law.
However, doing so could potentially interfere with a party’s future. Taking the time to negotiate a settlement that will help each party move forward is important, even in the face of an illness. Obtaining the proper advice and assistance with the process could help make that happen.
Source: Time, “Couples Are More Likely to Get Divorced if the Wife Gets Sick“, Alexandra Sifferlin, May 1, 2014
