Repartnering and trajectories of life satisfaction after separation and divorce in middle and later life

Abstract

Separation and divorce are life events that might alter life satisfaction on the long term. Previous literature suggests a recovery of life satisfaction after marital dissolution for most individuals, simultaneously emphasizing considerable heterogeneity in the extent and timing of such adaptation. A new partnership seems to be a promising factor for a positive post-separation adjustment process. At the same time, the question arises whether people with beneficial characteristics, such as higher trait resilience, may have a double advantage by recovering faster and being more likely to find a new partner. However, little research has concurrently investigated the consequences of repartnering and favorable personal attributes on life satisfaction of middle- and older-aged people, especially not beyond the initial recovery period. Our data stem from a three-wave longitudinal questionnaire study including 199 participants after a separation, all single at the beginning of the study. Latent growth modeling was applied to investigate trajectories of life satisfaction, examining the role of a new intimate partnership, while controlling for trait resilience. Trait resilience represented a strong general predictor for inter-individual differences in the initial level of life satisfaction. However, an increase in life satisfaction over time was only observed in the group of participants who engaged in a new partnership. This increase occurred independently of preexisting differences in beneficial characteristics, such as high levels of trait resilience or life satisfaction. Thus, repartnering is associated with improvement of life satisfaction beyond the first adaptation phase after separation and is therefore important to prevent long-term negative consequences.