Baby Boomers marriages go KABOOM!
When my wife of 25 years told me she wanted out of our marriage, it hit me like a bombshell. I felt alone and isolated. Now I know that many men of my generation are going through the same thing. (That's why I wrote my book Man Overboard: A Self Defence Course For Men In Marriage - the text of which appears in the first post of this blog.)
Many more long term marriages are falling apart in Australia, reports the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The figures show the number of couples who have divorced after at least 25 years of marriage has increased by 50% since 1985, rising to 16% of all divorced couples by 2004. And demographers predict it would egt worse because many baby boomers now in their early 50s were married before the Family Law Act 1975 brought in no-fault divorce. Pairing upn the late 1960s and early 1970s, when divorce was still a social taboo, in many cases they endured a not-so-wonderful marriage for 30 years. Midlife crisis brings time to re-evaluate what they want in the next 30 years. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports the number of men aged 50 to 59 who are divorcing has also almost doubled, from 10.6% in 1985 to 19.7% in 2004. Same for women.In 1985, the number of females aged 50 to 59 granted a divorce was 6.9%. By 2004, that had risen to 14.8%.
Counselling services report more older couples seeking help with their relationships. People are living longer and they know that their marriages are going to go on for longer. They'll be married without children longer than ever before.
In an ageing population, in that last phase of married life - the longest - people are confronted with issues like declining health and retirement. Couples are thrown together and don't know how to deal with each other. many marriages don't survive.
The baby boomers were the last generation to marry young. In 1971 the average bride in Australia was 21 and the average groom was 23. After that, in the 1980s and 1990s, no one got married that young. The stigma of divorce has also dissappeared.
Bernard Salt, a demographer, told the Sydney Morning Herald:
"It's like freedom for the last generation who were caught in an old-world social paradigm of a 21-year-old girl announcing her engagement on her 21st birthday, getting married before she was 22, pregnant by 23 and living with this guy for 30 years," he said. "She turns 50 and she thinks, I'm just not happy, and could not have made that decision [before] because of her values, her mindset, her upbringing, because of the social stigma of divorce, because of the children, because of financial reasons. The gap grew over rearing of kids and kept on widening.
Many more long term marriages are falling apart in Australia, reports the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The figures show the number of couples who have divorced after at least 25 years of marriage has increased by 50% since 1985, rising to 16% of all divorced couples by 2004. And demographers predict it would egt worse because many baby boomers now in their early 50s were married before the Family Law Act 1975 brought in no-fault divorce. Pairing upn the late 1960s and early 1970s, when divorce was still a social taboo, in many cases they endured a not-so-wonderful marriage for 30 years. Midlife crisis brings time to re-evaluate what they want in the next 30 years. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports the number of men aged 50 to 59 who are divorcing has also almost doubled, from 10.6% in 1985 to 19.7% in 2004. Same for women.In 1985, the number of females aged 50 to 59 granted a divorce was 6.9%. By 2004, that had risen to 14.8%.
Counselling services report more older couples seeking help with their relationships. People are living longer and they know that their marriages are going to go on for longer. They'll be married without children longer than ever before.
In an ageing population, in that last phase of married life - the longest - people are confronted with issues like declining health and retirement. Couples are thrown together and don't know how to deal with each other. many marriages don't survive.
The baby boomers were the last generation to marry young. In 1971 the average bride in Australia was 21 and the average groom was 23. After that, in the 1980s and 1990s, no one got married that young. The stigma of divorce has also dissappeared.
Bernard Salt, a demographer, told the Sydney Morning Herald:
"It's like freedom for the last generation who were caught in an old-world social paradigm of a 21-year-old girl announcing her engagement on her 21st birthday, getting married before she was 22, pregnant by 23 and living with this guy for 30 years," he said. "She turns 50 and she thinks, I'm just not happy, and could not have made that decision [before] because of her values, her mindset, her upbringing, because of the social stigma of divorce, because of the children, because of financial reasons. The gap grew over rearing of kids and kept on widening.
posted by Michael Kiely at 4:15 am
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