Divorce Transition Differences of Midlife Women

Abstract

Divorce transition experienced by and its influence upon midlife women's health is not fully understood. Interviews were conducted with 24 divorced women who self-classified into decider status groups: initiator (who first decided to end marriage), non-initiator (recipient of end of marriage decision), and mutual decider (shared decision to end marriage). Interpretive content analysis involving pattern coding was conducted. The divorce transition by initiators (n=8) included self-focused growth, optimism, and social support losses and opportunities, while the divorce transition by non-initiators (n=8) included being left, ruminating, vulnerability, and spiritual comfort. No profile emerged for the mutual-decider group (n=8). This study supports that differences in divorce transition exist for initiators and non-initiators.

Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory Short Form Among Divorced Adults

“…Nevertheless, the magnitude of the adverse outcomes produced by divorce can be buffered or exacerbated by some moderator variables, such as divorce initiator status, career status, and existence of a new intimate relationship (Sakraida, 2005;Wang & Amato, 2000). More concretely, divorce initiator status is highlighted as one of the most robust moderators of the enhancement of quality of life after the marital dissolution (Wallerstein, 1986).…”

“…More concretely, divorce initiator status is highlighted as one of the most robust moderators of the enhancement of quality of life after the marital dissolution (Wallerstein, 1986). Past research with individuals who had divorced, separated, or dissolved a nonmarital relationship consistently revealed that noninitiators of the relationship dissolution reported more psychological distress, more psychosomatic symptoms, and they perceived the dissolution as more stressful (Davis, Shaver, & Vernon, 2003;Sakraida, 2005;Wang & Amato, 2000). Noninitiators reported more often feelings of shock with the end of the relationship, lower levels of emotional recovery, as well as a worse sense of event controllability and more emotional attachment to the ex-partner (Davis et al, 2003;Frazier & Cook, 1993).…”

“…Previous research showed that adults who experienced divorce reported psychological growth when measured by the PTGI (Krumrei, Mahoney, & Pargament, 2009). More specifically, divorced adults exhibited an increased sense of autonomy and competence, more developed coping skills, more life reflection skills, more self-confidence, a sense of coherence and optimism, and new life perspectives in consequence of marital dissolution (King & Raspin, 2004;Kulik & Heine-Cohen, 2011;Sakraida, 2005;Thomas & Ryan, 2008).…”

Women's Perception of the Divorce Experience: A Qualitative Study

“…Sakraida (2005) found that midlife women initiators of divorce shared self-focused growth, optimism, and loss of social support and opportunities. Some women may feel a sense of freedom and have opportunities to explore new challenges that they might otherwise not have sought.…”

Living for the Children: Immigrant Korean Mothers' Re-creation of Family after Marital Dissolution

“…The women's experience of being neglected and treated with derision was striking. Although studies of White divorced women conducted in the 1990s and earlier in the United States mention social stigma being imposed on divorced women, (Radford et al, 1997;Sakraida, 2005), stigma appears to be less important in more recent studies. But social disapproval and prejudice of divorced individuals and their children continue to be important in studies of Korean women's adjustment after divorce in the U.S. and in Korea (Kim, Park, & Choi, 2010;Lee & Bell-Scott, 2009;Whang, 2007;Yang, 1999).…”