Abstract
This paper adopts a life course approach to investigate the pathways into living alone in mid-life in Britain and how these vary by gender and socio-economic status. The rise in the proportion of people living alone over the past three decades has been well documented. However, much of the focus of the existing literature has been on either people living solo in young adulthood or in later life. Mid-life has received surprising little scholarly attention, despite the fact that living arrangements in mid-life are changing rapidly, and that household composition and socio-economic circumstances in the period immediately prior to retirement are strongly associated with living arrangements and associated sources of support in later life. This paper therefore aims to fill this gap. We begin with a review of previous research on living alone and present a conceptual framework of the pathways into living alone in mid-life. Data from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS) are used to analyse the partnership and parenthood histories and socio-economic characteristics of those currently living alone in mid-life. The findings indicate that the dissolution of a marriage with children is the dominant pathway into mid-life solo-living, but that there is also a substantial group of never partnered men living alone. These never partnered men are split between those with low and high socio-economic status. Distinguishing between different groups of individuals living alone in mid-life is important for policy as these groups of men and women will have different social and financial resources as they enter later life. Mid-life men living alone who have not had children, have no educational qualifications, are not economically active and who live in rented housing are likely to be most at risk of needing a social and economic 'safety net' in old age.
Highlights
Demographic changes commonly associated with the so-called Second Demographic Transition (Lesthaeghe, 1995) - such as the delay of family formation, the decrease in marriage rates and the diffusion of cohabitation, rising divorce rates and the rising incidence of childlessness - have led to a diversification of life course trajectories over time, with more people living without a partner or co-resident children
These have investigated the effect of ip t rising income on the propensity to live alone (Pampel, 1983); transitions into and out of living alone cr and how these differ by gender, ethnicity, age groups, income and time period (Chandler, Williams, Maconachie, Collett & Dodgeon, 2004; Richards, White & Tsui, 1987); the influence of partnership us status and transitions on employment patterns among middle-aged women (Austen & Ong, 2010; Moen, 1991); and the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of those living alone and an how these have changed over time (Hall & Ogden, 2003; Hall et al, 1997; Jamieson et al, 2009)
Our estimates of the proportions living alone by age in the UK (Table 1) are comparable to those reported in other surveys (Iacovou & Skew, 2011; Office for National Statistics, 2012b)
Summary
One of the most salient changes in family life across the industrialised world since the Second. Demographic changes commonly associated with the so-called Second Demographic Transition (Lesthaeghe, 1995) - such as the delay of family formation, the decrease in marriage rates and the diffusion of cohabitation, rising divorce rates and the rising incidence of childlessness - have led to a diversification of life course trajectories over time, with more people living without a partner or co-resident children The magnitude of this shift is further underlined by the size of the cohorts currently in mid-life in Britain, reflecting those men and women born during the baby-booms of the late 1940s and early 1960s. In the final section we conclude by summarising the main findings, drawing out the policy implications of familial and economic resources in mid-life for support and care needs in later life, and discussing the limitations of the study and opportunities for further research
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