Late-Life Divorce

Abstract

The impact of late-life divorce on family rituals has not been systematically explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived changes in specific family celebrations, traditions, important life cycle events, and day-to-day family contact that occurred for a group of 115 adult children (73 females and 42 males) whose parents had divorced after a long-term marriage. A strong positive correlation was found between perceived disruptiveness of the parental divorce and changes in family rituals, particularly at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The role of women as kinkeepers, sibling differences, and the implications of evolving family ritual activities for theory development, research, assessment, and intervention are explored.