For decades there has been concern about the breakdown of the family’s impact on children, but the impact on adults later in life hasn’t received much attention.
Findings from a 2018 study released by Cigna set off alarms about loneliness and its potential root causes as it indicated loneliness is at epidemic proportions in America.
In an article for City Journal, Kay Hymowitz, the William E. Simon Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys” and “The New Brooklyn: How To Bring a City Back,” addresses how the rise in the breakdown of the family has created an increase in kinlessness. This phenomenon is impacting older adults in profound ways.
Hymowitz cites studies, including one published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Ashton M. Verdery and Rachel Margolis, that showed a surge in the number of “kinless” older adults.
“A jump in the number of never-married and divorced adults is also part of the kinlessness story,” writes Hymowitz. “Baby boomers were the first generation to divorce in large numbers, and they continue to split up even as they amble into their golden years, giving rise to the phenomenon known as “gray divorce.”