Remarriage
Remarriage is a marriage that takes place after a previous marital union has ended, as through divorce or widowhood.
[6] According to data analyzed by USA Today in 2013, remarriage rates in the United States have dropped by 40 percent over the last 20 years.
Some environmental factors do not affect all ethnicities: only non-white women from communities with high unemployment and poverty have reduced likelihood of remarriage.
[2] On the whole, remarriages are associated with greater socioeconomic security and life satisfaction compared to remaining divorced or separated.
[14] Again the rates of divorce and separation vary based on demographic and social factors.
[8] Most people successfully adjust after losing a partner; research on bereavement patterns finds the most frequent outcome is resilience.
The most frequent reasons older adults give for remaining without a partner after losing a spouse are gender-specific.
[20] Many widows perceive a sense of liberation no longer having to take care of another person, and value this more than additional companionship.
[21] Widowers, on the other hand, tend to report that they have not repartnered because they are concerned about being undesirable partners due to older age and ill health.
[20] Some studies have found that women who are not interested in a new relationship have explicitly decided to remain unpartnered.
[19] Although the gender differences in desire to repartner are most well documented, younger age and greater unhappiness also predict increased interest in remarriage.
Davidson (2002) describes a framework which proposes three primary intervening conditions affecting likelihood of repartnering following widowhood: availability of partners, the feasibility of a relationship, and desirability of companionship.
"[28] Regarding divorce and remarriage in Christianity, the Gospel of Mark records Jesus' teaching "Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
[29] The Shepherd of Hermas, an early Christian work on the subject, teaches that while fornication is the only reason that divorce can ever be permitted, remarriage with another person is forbidden to allow repentance and reconciliation of the husband and wife (those who refuse to forgive and receive their spouse are guilty of a grave sin).
Especially among older adults, there is a growing acceptance and interest in alternative romantic commitments like cohabitation or Living Apart Together (LAT).
[34] Many older women are interested in companionship but may want to avoid long-term obligations and are hesitant to give up their new independence.
[19][35] However, an arrangement called Living Apart Together (LAT) offers an appealing alternative; it is a form of intimate ongoing companionship that allows each partner to maintain autonomy and independent households.
[13] Marriage has been shown to impart significant mental health benefits[12] and remarriage seems to be protective as well.
Overall, people who remarry have lower levels of depressive symptoms compared to others who have lost a partner (through widowhood, divorce, or separation) and remain single.
Several studies have found that the mental and physical health benefits of remarriage do not fully balance out the negative effects of a previous marital disruption.
Compared to the strong advantage of being continuously married, the mental health benefits are progressively weaker the more previous marriages a person has had.
There may be a selection effect whereby healthy women are more likely to remarry, and subsequently, based on their greater physical health, experience less depression.
Research has not found any difference in physical health between persons with only one compared to multiple marital disruptions.
[13] The lingering negative health effects of marital disruption include increased risk for chronic conditions (e.g. diabetes and heart disease) and mobility limitations (e.g. difficulty walking a block or climbing stairs).
