The timing of parental divorce and filial obligations to care for parents later in life

This paper explores how the timing of parental divorce within a child’s lifecourse can influence the obligations they feel to care for their parents later in life. The majority of studies have suggested that parental divorce that occurs earlier in a child’s life will have the most detrimental effect on their relationships with their parents in later years, and their obligations to provide care for them as they grow old. Drawing upon life-history interviews with 42 adult children aged 36-65 in Southampton (UK), this contention is challenged by demonstrating how mid-life experiences of parental divorce have weakened participants’ obligations to care in significant ways. In other cases where participants’ parents experienced deteriorating marital relations in later life but rejected divorce, an emergent living arrangement was identified called ‘living together apart’. This often involved the social withdrawal of fathers which weakened relationships with their adult children, and reduced their willingness to care for them in frailty. These findings are presented within the context of rising divorce rates in older age groups and a projected widening of the informal care gap in the UK. We conclude by considering the implications of these findings for family-centric social care policy.