Transitory or Chronic? Gendered Loneliness Trajectories over Widowhood and Separation in Older Age.

We investigate how loneliness develops over the marital dissolution process in older age (i.e., transition at or after age 50) while paying close attention to heterogeneities by the dissolution pathway-widowhood and separation-and gender. Using data from over 8,000 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey respondents, we assess the association of interest using fixed effects regressions. Findings indicate that loneliness increased in the year before widowhood or separation among both women and men. Levels spiked in the year of dissolution, particularly for widowhood but less for separation. Widowed men were substantially more affected than widowed women, and gender differences were negligible for separation. Although loneliness levels gradually declined, widowed men remained vulnerable for remarkably long periods. Such chronic loneliness might be linked to other health disadvantages. These findings highlight the importance of long-term and gender-specific approaches to social support and integration after marital dissolution.

My Wealth, (Y)Our Life Satisfaction? Sole and Joint Wealth Ownership and Life Satisfaction in Marriage.

This study examines the money-subjective well-being nexus by studying the link between changes in jointly and solely (i.e. respondents' own and their partner's own) held gross wealth and changes in married individuals' subjective well-being. Joint assets reflect norms of sharing responsibilities and resources. Solely held assets, in contrast, offer individual economic independence. Using wealth data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP; 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017), we estimate individual fixed effects regressions. Although coefficients for all three wealth measures are positive, our results highlight that only increases in jointly held wealth are associated with statistically significant increases in spouses' life satisfaction in Germany. Despite expectations about a stronger relevance of joint wealth for men compared to women in line with men's role as a financial provider for the family, we do not find substantial gender differences in the positive association between increases in joint wealth and life satisfaction. In light of the individualisation of marriages, our results highlight that the personal benefits associated with marital sharing of wealth seem to trump those of economic independence and financial autonomy. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-022-09630-7.

Time cannot heal all wounds: Wealth trajectories of divorcees and the married.

Objective: To explore disparities in wealth trajectories between divorcees and continuously married individuals including moderation effects of remarriage and gender. Background: Amid concerns of long-term economic consequences of divorce, research illustrated that ever-divorced individuals hold less wealth than the married preretirement. However, it remains unclear whether this is a direct result of immediate, lasting divorce-related wealth penalties or whether divorce also leads to long-term wealth accumulation disparities. Method: Using personal-level, longitudinal wealth data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study, I applied propensity score and exact matching with random-effects growth models to compare wealth trajectories of divorcees and the married. The matching allowed (1) married controls to be assigned a theoretical divorce date for ease of comparability to the treatment group (i.e., divorcees) and (2) the account of a wide range of baseline differences. Results: Wealth differences between ever-divorce and continuously married individuals stem from lasting disadvantage-particularly for housing wealth-generated immediately around divorce rather than a scarring of divorcees' wealth accumulation. Remarriage but particularly gender is relevant moderators. Whereas remarriage moderates net wealth trajectories through housing wealth, gender moderates trajectories through financial wealth. Conclusion: Divorce importantly contributes to wealth stratification. Mitigation of divorce-related wealth penalties for both men and women needs to focus on immediate, but lasting costs of divorce particularly regarding homeownership.

Heterogeneity in Family Life Course Patterns and Intra-Cohort Wealth Disparities in Late Working Age.

Considering soaring wealth inequalities in older age, this research addresses the relationship between family life courses and widening wealth differences between individuals as they age. We holistically examine how childbearing and marital histories are associated with personal wealth at ages 50-59 for Western Germans born between 1943 and 1967. We propose that deviations from culturally and institutionally-supported family patterns, or the stratified access to them, associate with differential wealth accumulation over time and can explain wealth inequalities at older ages. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP, v34, waves 2002-2017), we first identified typical family trajectory patterns between ages 16 and 50 with multichannel sequence analysis and cluster analysis. We then modelled personal wealth ranks at ages 50-59 as a function of family patterns. Results showed that deviations from the standard family pattern (i.e. stable marriage with, on average, two children) were mostly associated with lower wealth ranks at older age, controlling for childhood characteristics that partly predict selection into family patterns and baseline wealth. We found higher wealth penalties for greater deviation and lower penalties for moderate deviation from the standard family pattern. Addressing entire family trajectories, our research extended and nuanced our knowledge of the role of earlier family behaviour for later economic wellbeing. By using personal-level rather than household-level wealth data, we were able to identify substantial gender differences in the study associations. Our research also recognised the importance of combining marital and childbearing histories to assess wealth inequalities. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-021-09601-4.