Age differences of married and divorcing couples.

This paper analyzes the probability of a married couple getting divorced, based on the age difference between the husband and wife. To calculate such probabilities, the distribution of age differences of married couples was derived from the 1991 Census and the 1990 General Social Survey, and the distribution of age differences of divorcing couples was obtained from 1991 divorce data provided by the Department of Justice Canada. These distributions, the first based on data that are seldom available, are also analyzed in this paper. The results provide details about the expected significant imbalances that exist, both for married and divorcing couples, between the number of couples with older husbands and the number with older wives. A model is developed that shows that divorce rates are lowest when the husband is two to ten years older than the wife or when the magnitude of their age difference is extremely large. Furthermore, the chance of divorce is much higher when the wife is older than the husband than vice versa. The demands on a younger spouse--usually the wife--to provide informal health care for an older spouse are briefly discussed.