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LOS ANGELES — As the divorce rate stabilizes across the country, there's one generation that is seeing a spike in separation. New research shows that those 50 and older are leaving their marriages in hopes of starting over.
According to new research out of Bowling Green State University, there's a growing group getting late-in-life divorces.
"Back in 1990 fewer than one in 10 people who got divorced were over the age of 50, and we find, in our paper, that today, one in four people getting divorced are 50 and older," said Bowling Green State University Professor Of Sociology Susan Brown.
"The gray divorce revolution" points out marriage isn't what it used to be.
"This suggests marriage is becoming more optional," Brown said. "People don't have to be married to be happy in life."
According to the AARP, more women than men initiate the split, which makes sense, said AARP Love and Relationship Ambassador Pepper Schwartz.
"They're often the ones who get tired of doing all the work, at a certain point, and say, 'I'm not getting back what I need here,' " Schwartz said.
Over the next 20 years we'll see a 25 percent increase in the number of people over the age of 50 who experience divorce.
–- Susan Brown, researcher
Carolyn Newcott filed for divorce from her husband when she was 53 years old.
"I'd been married for 32 and a half years, the last, several years were tough," Newcott said. "My ex husband was not a bad man at all, but every marriage has its ups and downs and ours was just on a downwards spiral."
With her daughter out of the house and a long-life still ahead of her she took the plunge.
"I came to the realization that I would be happier alone, possibly for the rest of my life, as opposed to staying in this non-marriage," Newcott said.
"A 50-year-old does not see himself or herself as unattractive or in the waning years of being good looking, strong, or athletic ... they're in there," Schwartz said.
And, while the overall divorce rate stabilizes across the country, numbers indicate this trend will continue.
"Over the next 20 years we'll see a 25 percent increase in the number of people over the age of 50 who experience divorce," Brown said.
With dating sites dedicated to senior dating and a growing pool of bachelors and bachelorettes, another shot at love is not out of the question.
Today, Newcott is remarried.
"I never thought that I would find love again," Newcott said.
She met her husband Bill Newcott through work and within a year, the two exchanged vows.
"Neither one of us feels old, neither one of us feels like we're winding down our lives," Bill Newcott said. "We are young and we're in love, and gosh, life is very exciting."
"I feel like I've started my life all over again and sometimes I even feel like I'm 20 again," Carolyn Newcott said.
