A Case Study on Adjustment to Divorce among Older Hispanic Adults in Miami-Dade, Florida
Bibliographic record
Abstract
AbstractThe number of older Hispanic adults who experience divorce in late-life is growing. Nonetheless, the literature has failed to represent this population by publishing general research methodologies that cannot successfully and accurately describe their reality. Mental health professionals find contradicting and confusing views regarding their experience of divorce. This article presents a qualitative case study based on the perspectives of 12 older Hispanic adults in Miami-Dade, Florida, who experienced divorce in late-life. An analysis of the data reveals that older Hispanic adults perceive their divorce as a challenge and the best alternative to a dysfunctional relationship as well as the only way to reach peace and happiness.Keywords: family life, divorce adjustment, older Hispanics, challenges, religiosityJosefina E. Ora masIntroductionResearch on divorce has been a major topic of controversy and scholarly interest for decades (Amato, 2010; Zhang & Van Hook, 2009). One of the reasons for this interest is the serious consequences of divorce and the elevated number of individuals it affects nationwide. Experts claim that a quarter of all first marriages end in disruption by their eighth year (Pinsof, 2002), and half or more of all marriages end sometime after that (Rohde-Brown & Rudestam, 2011).In 1998, about 85% of all relationships ended in divorce after 20 years of marriage, just in the state of Florida (Pinsof, 2002). Now, more than 23% of the total population is divorced in the city of Miami alone (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Experts predict that up to 65% of all marriages in the nation will end in divorce (Christenson, Zabriskie, Eggett, & Freeman, 2006; RohdeBrown & Rudestam, 2011). Many of these divorces will take place within the Hispanic population as Hispanics continue to increase in numbers and stressors for this population group affect marital stability (Amato, 2010; Zhang & Van Hook, 2009).Wu and Schimmele (2007) affirmed that older adults are divorcing more than ever before even though the likelihood of being married is supposed to increase with age. In 2001, approximately 300,000 people in the United States age 55 or older experienced divorce or separation. In 2004, 64% of those 65 and older ended their marriages after ten or more years, while 32% did the same after 20 or more years.Regardless of the seriousness of the problem and the large body of literature on the subject of divorce (Amato, 2010; Krumrei, Mahoney, & Pargament, 2009; Meitzer, 2011), the literature has failed to represent Hispanics and older adults in research and has published general research methodologies (e.g., longitudinal studies) that cannot successfully and accurately describe the reality of these groups' experiences with divorce (Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010). The present study bridged this gap by increasing knowledge concerning the experience of Hispanics who experience divorce in late-life and by using case study as the research method that enabled participants to tell their stories in their own words.Literature ReviewMost literary publications focus on the negative aspects of divorce (Hughes & Waite, 2009; Meitzer, 2011); however, many experts affirm that adjustment post-divorce is possible (Amato, 2010; Qualls, 2008). More than adjustment, there is potential for growth and development (Leighman, 2009; Meitzer, 2011). There is also a chance for self-fulfillment and happiness after divorce (East, Jackson, Obrien, & Peters, 2010). Experts disagree about the specific contributors to adjustment. Some explain that certain realities, such as initiating the divorce, foster adjustment (Wang & Amato, 2000) while others maintain that adjustment is not related to who initiates the divorce (Sweeper & Halford, 2006). Experts agree that more than half of the married Hispanic population eventually divorces (Oropesa & Landale, 2004; Pinsof, 2002) and that this number will continue to increase as older adults end their marriages to fulfill new life goals (Wu & Schimmele, 2007). …
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.007 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".