Inequitable, disparate outcomes for U.S. divorces in 2022: how gender and age moderate family income and divorce
Date
2024
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Abstract
Divorce can significantly affect personal income, which economically harms adults and children during the post-divorce recovery. Half a century of research on how much a divorce affects gender stays relevant even to this day. What are the heterogeneous effects of divorce on income? Female divorcées potentially have less time to recover from a gray divorce than male divorcées due to a shorter time for higher education, job training, and career development. Devastating consequences plummet if divorcées are not adequately prepared or have a solid plan to rebuild their financial stability. Lower wage-earning potential and segregated occupations significantly affect female-headed households. Investigating the effects of divorce on the gendered family income differential is critical to research, as divorce, gender, and age are contributing mechanisms for the likelihood of the feminization of poverty. Examining the interaction of gender and age in the consequential context of divorces continues to marginalize female divorcées but significantly harms older divorced men more. Divorced women most likely will experience a delayed start to recuperate from the lost time of economic growth and wealth accumulation compared to male divorcées. An imperative suggestion for women is to obtain higher education credentials before significant life events such as marriage, childbirth, or divorce to obtain long-term economic stability.
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Subject
feminization of poverty
gray divorce
welfare state
gender
divorce
stratification