The Impact of Marital Quality,Divorce, and Remarriage on the Relationships Between Parents and Their Children

SUMMARY

This paper examines data from a panel study on the long-term effects of parental marital quality and divorce on relationships between parents and adult children. Attention is focused on whether these effects vary by age and gender of child as well as the theoretical explanations linking mother-father and parent-child relations. The relational quality between adult children (18-31 years old) and both mothers and fathers is examined from the perspective of both children and parents. Among intact families, parental marital quality has long-term effects on father-child relations, regardless of gender, whereas short-term effects are characteristic of mother-child relations and only perceived by mothers. Further, although divorce without remarriage hurts sons' relationships with both fathers and mothers, it hurts father-daughter relations even more. Mother-daughter bonds appear to be improved by divorce, with declines in income explaining a large portion of the tendency for divorce to affect father-child relations.     

Timing of Remarriage Among Divorced and Widowed Parents

Research on timing of parental remarriage is important to understanding consequences of remarriage for children. In this study, survival analyses were conducted predicting timing of parental remarriage from parental loss in a sample of 3,774 offspring whose parents divorced or whose mother or father died during childhood. Transition to remarriage was quicker for parents who divorced compared to those who were widowed, especially for fathers. By examining timing of remarriage from the perspective of parents, and thus children, we identify not only who is more likely to experience parental remarriage, but when remarriage is likely to occur.     

The Role of Cohabitation in Remarriage

Using 3 subsamples of remarried respondents (n =1,583, 971, and 926) in the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study investigates how different types of cohabitation, especially postdivorce cohabitation, affect the timing and quality of remarriage in the United States. Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis indicates that postdivorce cohabitation in general and postdivorce cohabitation with multiple partners in particular delay remarriage. Furthermore, echoing previous research findings on the relationship between premarital cohabitation and relationship quality, the ordered logistic analysis shows that postdivorce cohabitation with a spouse is associated with lower levels of remarital happiness, and postdivorce cohabitation of all types tends to be associated with higher levels of remarital instability. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

Parental Divorce: A Protection from Later Delinquency for Maltreated Children

Family structure and maltreatment (abuse and neglect) have been identified as predictors of youth delinquency, although the relationship is not clear. This article furthers this research by studying a sample of maltreated children (n = 250) in one Midwest county, and through a multiple regression analysis of many risk factors, the study identified only one significant delinquency variable that made delinquency less likely—children who experience parental divorce. Some established risk factors were surprisingly found not to be predictive of later delinquency: minority race, one-parent families, youth substance abuse, recurrent maltreatment, and youth behind in academic grade level. Implications for the family studies and juvenile justice fields are set forth.     

Effects of Parental Involvement and Family Structure on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents

Abstract

Using the 1992 NELS data set, this study assessed the effects of three aspects of parental involvement and family structure on the academic achievement of those children. The results indicate that family structure and two of the three aspects of parental involvement were associated with higher adolescent academic achievement, when gender, race, and socioeconomic status are controlled for. Family structure was the single greatest predictor of academic achievement. The extent to which parents discussed school issues and attended school functions also had a positive impact on adolescent academic achievement. Whether a parent checked on a child's homework and checked on his or her friends did not have a positive impact, and sometimes had a negative effect, on academic achievement. The significance of these results is discussed. To the extent that parental family structure is, in itself, partially a measure of parental involvement, the relative influence of family structure and other measures of parental involvement on children's academic achievement is discussed.     

Parental Depression in the Context of Divorce and the Impact on Children

The impact of divorce on children has been well documented over the past 30 years. Divorcing parents who are also experiencing clinical depression often have a compromised ability to parent well and to give the children needed support. Children are then impacted both by the divorce itself and the effects of parental depression. They are at higher risk of numerous problems including poorer physical health, deficits in academic performance not attributable to intellectual limitations, poor social functioning, conduct disorder and other disruptive behavior problems, phobias, and other anxiety disorders. Because children of depressed parents are at higher risk for depression themselves, they should be monitored for depressive symptoms. If there are concerns, the child should be assessed by a mental health professional.     

Examining the Effects of Parental Absence on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents: The Challenge of Controlling for Family Income

Increasingly, researchers are concerned about how to best control for family income when examining the effects of parental divorce and the death of a parent on the children's academic achievement. Some researchers have argued that a predissolution control is preferable over a postdissolution control for family income, because parental divorce or the death of a parent nearly always causes family income reduction. Using the National Educational Longitudinal Study 1988–92 data set, this study has examined whether using a predissolution control for family income yields a different pattern of effects from when a postdissolution control is used. The results indicate that using a predissolution control rather than a postdissolution control for family income does yield a different pattern of effects.     

Consequences of Parental Divorce for Adult Children’s Support of Their Frail Parents

Using three waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study, I examined the association of parental divorce and remarriage with the odds that biological, adult children give personal care and financial assistance to their frail parents. The analysis included 5,099 adult children in the mother sample and 4,029 children in the father sample. Results indicate that adult children of divorced parents are just as likely as adult children of widowed parents to give care and money to their mothers, but the former are less likely than the latter to care for their fathers. The findings suggest that divorced fathers are prone to be the population most in need of formal support in old age.     

The Impact of Low Socioeconomic Status and Perceived Discrimination on Parental Perceptions of the Well-Being of Latino Children

This exploratory study examined the impact of low socioeconomic status (SES) and perceived discrimination on Latino parents’ perceptions of their children’s mental health issues. Anti-immigrant policies and negative public discourse lead to perceived discrimination among Latinos, which may impact mental health. Participants (106), surveyed in 2011, were Latino, predominantly female, had a mean of 14 years living in the United States, and less than 9 years of education. The results of multivariate ordinary-least-squares regressions indicated that participants with lower levels of SES had significantly greater (p < .05) perceptions that their children were angry, had separation anxiety from parents, were fearful, and avoided social situations. Higher levels of perceived discrimination were significantly related (p < .05) to participants’ perceptions of fear among their children. Social service providers must assess for possible mental health issues and develop culturally appropriate intervention strategies to effectively address these issues with parents and children.     

The Effects of Religion on Remarriage Among American Women: Evidence From the National Survey of Family Growth

The concept of relationship self-regulation (RSR) has been shown to be related to relationship satisfaction, yet the differences in RSR ability based on couple type have yet to be examined. This study compared first married, remarried, and cohabiting individuals on their self-reported ability to implement RSR in their relationship, along with their report of satisfaction, positive communication, and negative communication in their relationships. Data were derived from 6,565 participants who were part of the Relationship Evaluation (RELATE) questionnaire data set. Results showed that although mean differences in RSR were small across couple types, remarrieds reported significantly lower RSR levels than any other group, whereas first marrieds reported significantly higher RSR levels than any other group. Implications for relationship education programs and couple therapy are discussed.     

The Timing of Cohabitation and Engagement: Impact on First and Second Marriages

Using a multistate sample of marriages that took place in the 1990s, this study examined associations between premarital cohabitation history and marital quality in first (N = 437) and second marriages (N = 200) and marital instability in first marriages (intact N = 521, divorced N = 124). For first marriages, cohabiting with the spouse without first being engaged or married was associated with more negative interaction, higher self‐reported divorce proneness, and a greater probability of divorce compared to cohabiting after engagement or marriage (with patterns in the same direction for marital positivity). In contrast, there was a general risk associated with premarital cohabitation for second marriages on self‐reported indices of marital quality, with or without engagement when cohabitation began.     

Parental Divorce and Child Mental Health Trajectories

A process‐oriented approach to parental divorce locates the experience within the social and developmental context of children's lives, providing greater insight into how parental divorce produces vulnerability in some children and resiliency in others. The current study involves prospectively tracking a nationally representative sample of Canadian children of ages 4–7 and living with two biological parents at initial interview in 1994 (N = 2,819), and comparing the mental health trajectories of children whose parents remain married with those whose parents divorce by 1998. Results from growth curve models confirm that, even before marital breakup, children whose parents later divorce exhibit higher levels of anxiety/depression and antisocial behavior than children whose parents remain married. There is a further increase in child anxiety/depression but not antisocial behavior associated with the event of parental divorce itself. Controlling for predivorce parental socioeconomic and psychosocial resources fully accounts for poorer child mental health at initial interview among children whose parents later divorce, but does not explain the divorce‐specific increase in anxiety/depression. Finally, a significant interaction between parental divorce and predivorce levels of family dysfunction suggests that child antisocial behavior decreases when marriages in highly dysfunctional families are dissolved.     

The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children

I use a divorce‐stress‐adjustment perspective to summarize and organize the empirical literature on the consequences of divorce for adults and children. My review draws on research in the 1990s to answer five questions: How do individuals from married and divorced families differ in well‐being? Are these differences due to divorce or to selection? Do these differences reflect a temporary crisis to which most people gradually adapt or stable life strains that persist more or less indefinitely? What factors mediate the effects of divorce on individual adjustment? And finally, what are the moderators (protective factors) that account for individual variability in adjustment to divorce? In general, the accumulated research suggests that marital dissolution has the potential to create considerable turmoil in people's lives. But people vary greatly in their reactions. Divorce benefits some individuals, leads others to experience temporary decrements in well‐being, and forces others on a downward trajectory from which they might never recover fully. Understanding the contingencies under which divorce leads to these diverse outcomes is a priority for future research.     

Parental Divorce and College Students: The Impact of Family Unpredictability and Perceptions of Divorce

The impact of parental divorce, perceptions of divorce, and family unpredictability on the locus of control, interpersonal trust, and assertiveness of college students (n = 115) was studied. Roughly 27% of participants came from divorced homes; they did not differ significantly from participants from nondivorced homes on locus of control, trust, or assertiveness. However, negative perceptions of parental divorce were associated with a more external locus of control. Aspects of maternal unpredictability related to lower trust yet higher assertiveness. Participants with divorced parents reported more unpredictable finances and somewhat more unpredictable meals growing up. Implications for adjusting to divorce are discussed.     

Nonresident Father Involvement With Children and Divorced Women's Likelihood of Remarriage

Although remarriage is a relatively common transition, little is known about how nonresident fathers affect divorced mothers' entry into remarriage. Using the 1979–2010 rounds of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979, the authors examined the likelihood of remarriage for divorced mothers (N = 882) by nonresident father contact with children and payment of child support. The findings suggest that maternal remarriage is positively associated with nonresident father contact but not related to receiving child support.     

The Relationship Between Mandatory Divorce Education and Level of Post-Divorce Parental Conflict

Abstract

This study assessed the association between conflict between divorced parents and their attendance or nonattendance at a divorce education program. A telephone interview was done with 160 individuals who participated in the education program and 59 individuals who did not. Both males and females in the nonattendance group had higher conflict scores than the attendance group. Attendance at the divorce education class was found to be associated with whether a subject will return to court or not. Those who attended were less likely to return to court related to the divorce.     

Effects of a Mid- to Late-Life Parental Divorce on Adult Children

There is a dearth of research on whether and how a later-life parental divorce influences the lives of adult children. Through qualitative interviews with 40 adult children of divorce (ACD)—those whose parents divorced after they were 18 years of age—ACD were asked to discuss their experience of the parental divorce. There were commonalities experienced by the ACD. However, only half of the ACD were initially affected negatively by their parents’ divorce, whereas the other half did not have a tough time initially. Factors including being “put in the middle,” along with strained parent–child relationships, were found to have the potential to affect one’s experience.     

A Test of the Family Stress Model Using a Remarriage Sample

ABSTRACT

The family stress model delineates the connections between economic hardship, economic pressure, marital interactions, marital quality, and, finally, marital instability. This study evaluated the family stress model in a sample of 661 remarried couples using structural equation modeling. The model was evaluated both within and between spouses. Consistent with the family stress model, marital instability and quality were influenced by economic hardship and pressure through decreased spousal warmth and increased spousal hostility. Implications for remarriage education and counseling are discussed.