Women and divorce: financial coping from midlife to older age

ABSTRACT

Divorce is a life-changing event with financial implications for women. Although large-scale studies have examined the factors associated with financial coping after divorce, little attention has been paid to the lived experience of women over time. In this study, we used mixed methods to examine the financial well-being of divorced women over 20 years from 1996 to 2016. Using data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health [ALSWH], we analyzed women’s ratings of their ability to manage on available income, and their narrative comments about financial coping over eight waves, beginning in midlife (ages 46–51). The ratings improved over time, particularly as women reached peak career in their 50s or 60s or entered retirement. Despite this upward trajectory, financial strain persisted for ~40% of the cohort who faced poor health or diminishing job prospects. We conclude that, although financial hardship often eases over time, women’s early ratings of financial coping predict levels of income security in older age.

KEYWORDS:

• Divorce
• women
• aging
• financial coping

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health for funding and to the women who provided the survey data. Thanks also to Reed Farnsworth for his help on the technical aspects of this paper.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health by the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle.