05 May 2025
A new study challenges a common assumption that Australian women who divorce or separate in midlife are destined for a bleak future.
While finances can be a struggle and personal happiness declines in the short term, it gradually increases within a few years, often exceeding pre-divorce levels.
That’s one finding from a South Australian study that tracked over 1400 women who had divorced or separated, comparing them with a control group of over 2500 women who remained in long-term relationships.
Life satisfaction was tracked over multiple decades, using data from nine waves of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. The findings have been published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.
Researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) and the University of Adelaide said that social support, perceived control, and income satisfaction influenced how well women adjusted after their relationships dissolved.
Lead author, UniSA clinical psychology master’s student Olivia Arcangeli, says that divorce and separation are among the most stressful experiences of adulthood, yet little is known about the impact of later-life relationship dissolution.
“When long-term relationships end during midlife (age 45-50), people still have decades ahead of them, but also less time to re-establish themselves financially and in other ways,” Arcangeli says.
“We found that within three to four years, divorced and separated women returned to their pre-dissolution levels of life satisfaction. This contrasts with a similar study in Germany, which showed that women still had not returned to pre-divorce levels of happiness five to six years after their relationship ended.”
The difference between the two countries may be attributed to more lenient attitudes towards divorce in Australia, where there is far less stigma around divorce than in Germany.
University of Adelaide psychology lecturer, Dr Anastasia Ejova, says the Australian study showed that life satisfaction levels for divorced and separated women matched those of married and partnered women approximately 13.5 years after their relationship ended, and continued growing somewhat faster, slightly exceeding the control group’s life satisfaction in the last few years of measurement.
“This finding can be explained through the lens of post-traumatic growth, whereby individuals who experience major crises may develop increased insight and gratitude regarding their circumstances, which in turn increases their wellbeing,” Dr Ejova says. “We would ideally need to keep following the women for another few years to see whether the faster growth post-separation is sustained.”
Women whose life satisfaction levels fell sharply in the years surrounding the relationship breakup experienced greater long-term happiness afterwards.
The researchers say this could be linked to feelings of relief after dealing with high levels of stress and conflict during their relationship.
Among the control group, happiness levels also rose later in the marriage, consistent with the view that many marital problems were able to be resolved over time.
Women with strong support networks, a sense of control over their lives, and a greater ability to manage on their available income reported higher life satisfaction post separation.
The effects of re-partnering, having children, and education were either non-significant or unexpected.
Unlike previous research on men and women, this study did not find re-partnering to improve life satisfaction levels post-divorce for Australian women. The researchers note it is possible that the benefits of re-partnering are more likely to be seen in men.
In addition, despite an assumption that children present significant emotional and financial challenges for divorcees, the study showed minimal differences in happiness levels post-divorce between women with and without children.
“The findings highlight the need for targeted support services for middle-aged women going through divorce and separation,” Arcangeli says.
“Providing access to counselling, financial advice and social support networks could help women navigate the emotional and economic challenges of separation more effectively, making a big difference to their long-term wellbeing.”
Notes for editors
“Does Time Heal All Wounds? Life Satisfaction Trajectories in Australian Middle-Aged Women Before and After Relationship Dissolution” is published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00853-5
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Media contact: Candy Gibson M: +61 434 605 142 E: candy.gibson@unisa.edu.au
