According to researchers at London’s Kingston University, published in the Journal Economica in July, women are significantly more content than usual for up to 5 years following the end of their marriages, while men are only “slightly happier”.
The research surveyed 10,000 people in the UK between the ages of 16 and 60, questioning them regularly over 20 years.
There has been much interest in the research, led by Professor Yannis Georgellis, Director of the Centre for Research in Employment, Skills and Society at Kingston Business School, who said: “one possible explanation could be that women who enter into an unhappy marriage feel much more liberated after divorce than their male counterparts.” In fact, the research looked at the effect on people of a number of traumatic events, such as bereavement and unemployment. It is unemployment that had the biggest effect on men long term, who find it much harder to recover from the effects of losing a job.
Our experience is that it is the completion of the divorce, particularly the financial settlement, that has an immediate effect on both parties, who feel much more able to revert to normal life, once the Court proceedings are over. It is all the more important, therefore, for those affected by relationship breakdown to seek legal advice and to look at alternative forms, other than Court proceedings, of resolving their differences.
More information from: www.kingston.ac.uk
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