Gray Divorce and Adult Children: The Hidden Impact No One Talks About with Carol Hughes on Divorce & Beyond #413

About this episode

The episode discusses the hidden impact of gray divorce on adult children and explores how families can navigate these changes.

When people talk about gray divorce, the conversation usually focuses on the couple: finances, retirement, and starting over later in life. But there is another group deeply affected by these late in life separations that often goes overlooked: adult children. The divorce rate for couples over 50 has more than doubled in recent decades, and as more long term marriages end later in life, families are navigating a transition many never expected. Even when children are fully grown, the divorce of their parents can reshape family dynamics, create loyalty conflicts, and disrupt long standing family roles. In this episode of the Divorce & Beyond Podcast, Susan Guthrie welcomes back Carol Hughes, co author of the groundbreaking book Home Will Never Be the Same Again. Carol first joined the podcast in 2021 with co author Bruce Fredenburg to discuss their research on adult children of gray divorce. She returns to share updated insights from both research and real world experiences about how adult children are affected when their parents divorce later in life. Together, Susan and Carol explore why gray divorce can be more emotionally disruptive for adult children than many parents…

People in this episode

Host: Susan Guthrie

Guest: Carol Hughes

Topics covered

• gray divorce
• adult children
• family dynamics
• emotional impact
• divorce after 50
• relationship protection

Keywords

• gray divorce
• adult children
• family roles
• divorce dynamics
• emotional disruption
• loyalty conflicts
• transition
• research insights

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Home Will Never Be the Same Again

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