Family breakups beyond childhood: later-life parental divorce and adult sibling ties

Abstract

This study examines how later-life parental divorce is associated with changes in adult sibling relationships, focusing on contact, emotional closeness, intimacy, and conflict. Background: Divorce is becoming increasingly common among older adults which is referred to as "gray divorce". Although couple dissolution has implications for broader family dynamics, less is known about how later-life parental divorce shapes relationships among adult children. Prior research on sibling relationships has primarily focused on childhood and adolescence and has often relied on cross-sectional designs. Understanding how later-life parental divorce relates to adult sibling ties is important, given the central role siblings play in providing emotional and practical support across the life course. Method: We use four waves of longitudinal data from the German Family Panel and employ fixed-effects models to examine within-individual changes in sibling contact, emotional closeness, intimacy, and conflict following later-life parental divorce. Results: The frequency of contact and emotional closeness between adult siblings decreases following later-life parental divorce. Additional analyses indicate that female-male and male-male sibling dyads are more likely to experience increased conflict after later-life parental divorce compared to female-female dyads. Conclusion: Later-life parental divorce is associated with meaningful changes in adult sibling relationships, suggesting that its consequences extend beyond the dissolving couple. Contrary to the assumption that divorce in later life has limited implications for adult children, our findings indicate that it may reshape sibling dynamics in complex ways