All their lives, Baby Boomers – as we label Americans born between 1946 and 1964 – have been rewriting our nation’s scripts for love, cohabitation, and marriage. Desires for individual fulfillment and personal happiness have guided their choices each step of the way. Nearly 90% of Boomers eventually married, but they also led the “divorce revolution” of the 1970s and 1980s. Even now, with 10,000 Boomers turning 65 each day since January 1, 2011, these aging Americans remain at the forefront of family change.

Boomers have much more diverse family and living arrangements than older Americans in previous generations. Many are part of married couples, yet one in three Boomers is unmarried. Some of those never married in the first place, and probably will not at this stage of life. Others have divorced at least once prior to entering the golden years. And many Boomers are still getting divorced during old age – indeed, the “gray divorce rate” in America has doubled over the past two decades. Why has divorce become more common for older Americans – and what do the swelling ranks of older people on their own mean for U.S. society and public policy? Divorce is more common among older adults than ever before. more...