When longtime marriages come undone in later life, women tend to bear the brunt of the emotional fallout.
That’s the takeaway from a new study probing the impacts of so-called “gray divorce” on men and women over 50, finding that women’s antidepressant use spikes more dramatically than men’s in the years surrounding a split.
What the Study Found
A new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health draws its observations from increased antidepressant use following the end of marriages or relationships.
The researchers examined nearly 230,000 individuals between ages 50-70 in a Finnish medical database. They tracked individuals’ antidepressant use for four years before and after experiences of divorce, non-marital separation, bereavement, and re-partnering.
The research team found that both men and women increased their antidepressant use 3-7 percent in the four years leading up to divorce, separation, and bereavement. This uptick in usage intensified the closer they got to the separation event.
After the separation occurred, antidepressant use gradually declined over time before stabilizing. However, it never returned to pre-separation levels, underscoring the ongoing difficulty of adapting to union dissolution later in life.
The researchers observed that women tended to increase their antidepressant use after divorce more than men did. Women also decreased usage less than men in the years following divorce.
“Our findings underscore the challenges of adapting to union dissolution in later life and the associated need for support, the study authors wrote.
What Account for Women’s Divorce Distress
Gender differences in family roles are likely a factor in the varying emotional toll divorce or separation takes on men versus women, the authors study noted.
In other words, the spouse who is the primary caregiver to children, is financially dependent on their partner, and lacks a strong social support system tends to have a harder time emotionally with separation.
Women often take on more responsibility for bringing blended families together after divorce, which can undermine mental health as well, the research team also noted.
Divorce Rates After 50 Surge
“Gray divorce” is becoming more common in the U.S. A 2022 study published in The Journals of Gerontology Series B reported that adults aged 65 and older are the only age group with an increasing divorce rate. This trend raises new questions about how older adults will navigate life after divorce.
In fact, while the overall U.S. divorce rate has declined, it has nearly doubled among couples aged 50 and older since 1990.
Sometimes divorce and separation in later life lead to cohabitation. However, the researchers of the Finnish study note that cohabitation among baby boomers—who are currently between 60 and 78 years old—can be less stable than marriage. For example, living alone after divorce can be expensive and lead to isolation for older adults.
How Older People Cope With Divorce
Part of the reason for remarriage after divorce is to avoid isolation and its potential risks, such as dementia and depression. According to some research, more than one in 10 adults aged 55 and older have clinically significant depressive symptoms.
Divorce can exacerbate those symptoms. For example, research has found that compared to older adults who remained married, those who experienced gray divorce already had higher levels of depressive symptoms before the divorce. At the time of divorce, they exhibited an immediate increase in depressive symptoms, followed by a gradual return to pre-divorce levels over the next four years.
In fact, the authors of the new study noted that what often leads people to use antidepressants is the need to cope with the stress of upcoming changes associated with divorce or separation. These changes can include decreased household income or loss of social support networks.