title: Divorce at midlife: psychic dangers of the liminal period. Part I. Empirical considerations.
abstract: The literature suggests that those in the second half of life may be more vulnerable to the traumas associated with divorce. In this paper a rites of passage model derived from anthropology was used to help explicate their greater vulnerability. The focus was on liminality, a quality of ambiguity and disconnectedness in life often manifest when persons are leaving the married state but are not as yet divorced. The subjects were newly-separated men and women aged 20--26. When indicators of liminality were quantified, it was found that they were strongly associated with maladaptation, and that the middle aged subjects showed evidence of greater liminality than was the case with younger respondents.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004243:Divorce; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012918:Social Alienation; D013315:Stress, Psychological