Romantic Attachment Among Young Adults: The Effects of Parental Divorce and Residential Instability

Using an attachment theory perspective, variation in adult romantic attachment style outcomes were examined according to childhood experiences of parental divorce and residential instability. The sample was made up of 172 young adults who were recruited using snowball sampling via online social networking. A statistical difference on adult romantic attachment style was not found between individuals who experience parental divorce and those who did not, and parental conflict and stability of residence patterns did not have a statistical impact on attachment avoidance or anxiety. However, conflict, residential stability, and time with nonresidential parent statistically improved the predictive ability of attachment anxiety among those whose parents had divorced. Specifically, time with nonresidential parent moderated adult romantic attachment anxiety.     

Relation Between Parental Divorce and Adjustment in College Students

The role of parental divorce on the adjustment of emerging adults has been understudied and mostly limited to first-year college students. This study sought to examine the relation between parental divorce and adjustment in college students to identify differences in students from intact and divorced families while also examining gender and age differences. Results indicated no adjustment differences as a whole or by gender for intact and divorced families. However, students who were older when their parents divorced had higher levels of self-esteem than those whose parents divorced when they were younger. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Adult Sibling Relationships in the Context of a Mid- to Late-Life Parental Divorce

There has been much research on the influence of parental divorce on children, but less is known about whether and how a later-life parental divorce influences the lives of adult children. Through qualitative interviews with 40 adult children of divorce—those whose parents divorced after they were 18 years of age—adult sibling relationships were explored to determine if a mid- to late-life parental divorce affects the adult sibling relationship. The majority of participants reported that their sibling relationships were not negatively affected by the parental divorce; however, a minority of participants noted that their adult sibling relationships were negatively affected, especially if they “took sides” during the parental divorce.     

The Effects of Parental Divorce: A Culture-Specific Challenge for Young Adults in South Korea

Extensive research into the offspring of divorced parents has indicated associations between parental divorce and developmental outcomes for young adults. Nevertheless the impact of cultural variation on the lives of young people with divorced parents has been neglected. Qualitative research using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to examine the experiences of six Korean adults of divorced parents, who detailed the impact of parental divorce on their lives and told us how their feelings toward their parents and their own ideas about family formation had been reevaluated. Overall, participants expressed concerns in common with other children of divorce and concerns specific to their Confucian cultural context, namely ambivalent feelings toward their parents' divorce, confusion about traditional filial piety, and a view of the self as damaged and needing reinvestment.     

Adult Recall of Childhood Psychological Maltreatment in “Adult Children of Divorce”: Prevalence and Associations With Concurrent Measures of Well-Being

One hundred and eighteen adults whose parents divorced when they were 15 years of age or younger participated in an Internet survey of adult recall of psychological maltreatment and standardized outcomes including other forms of maltreatment, self-sufficiency, depression, alcohol dependency, attachment style, and self-esteem. It was hypothesized that rates of psychological maltreatment would be associated with all of these outcomes. Most, but not all, of the associations were borne out. The findings shed light on one way in which children of divorce are at risk for poor outcomes and highlight the need for interventions for divorced parents and children to address the issue of psychological maltreatment.     

Correlates of Self-Esteem Among College Students Offspring from Divorced Families:

This research examines whether factors found to be relevant to children's adjustment following parental divorce do indeed have a significant relationship to the self-esteem of young adult college students who have experienced parental divorce during childhood or adolescence. These factors include gender, social class, age at the time of parental divorce, remarriage of the custodial mother, the amount of contact between the non-residential father and his offspring, and feelings of closeness between the non-residential father and his offspring. The results of a multiple regression analysis indicate that contact with the non-residential father has a significant impact on the self-esteem of female offspring, whereas the age at the time of parental divorce is the most sigmticant factor contributing to the self-esteem of male offspring. Results also indicate there is no significant difference in self-esteem levels among male and female offspring from divorced families.     

Italian College Student-Reported Childhood Exposure to Parental Alienation: Correlates With Well-Being

Two hundred and fifty-seven undergraduate psychology students in Chieti, Italy completed an anonymous and confidential survey regarding their childhood exposure to parental alienation, psychological maltreatment, and measures of current functioning. Results revealed high levels of reported exposure to parental alienation behaviors by those whose parents divorced or separated and by those who reported that—regardless of marital status—their parents’ relationship was “very bad.” Those with any exposure to parental alienation reported higher rates of parental psychological maltreatment, lower rates of parental caring, as well as poor functioning with respect to self-esteem, depression, adult attachment styles, alcohol abuse, self-direction, and cooperation. These findings support the theory that parental alienation represents a risk factor for compromised outcomes across the life span.     

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.     

Effects of Parental Divorce on Children's Financial Support for College Students

No-fault divorce laws, and the lowering of the age of minority from 21 to 18 years have combined to have unintended negative impact on the children of divorce. Previous research has shown that children whose parents are divorced are at increased risk for emotional problems and a reduced standard of living. This study was conducted to learn more about the effects of parental divorce on a young person's access to a college education. A questionnaire was developed to learn how students pay for college, and what non-financial support they receive from parents. The questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample 9 of 19 students at a state university. Findings indicated that young people whose parents were divorced received higher Pell grants, were more likely to provide more of their own necessities, and were more likely to repay their college loans themselves. Further, young people whose parents were divorced were much more likely to have their material and fnancial needs met by their custodial parents rather than their noncustodial parents. Implications are that young people with divorced parents may have less financial support for college from their family, and the support they receive is much more likely to come from their custodial than noncustodial parent. Changes in child support laws and financial aid policies are recommended.     

Parental Divorce,Residence Arrangements,and Contact Between Grandchildren and Grandparents

When parents divorce, grandparents can play a supportive role in the lives of their grandchildren, but a parental divorce may also put grandchild–grandparent ties under pressure. In this study the authors investigated how grandchildren of married and divorced parents differ in the frequency of face‐to‐face contacts with grandparents and how this is mediated by postdivorce residence arrangements. Based on the multi‐actor survey “Divorce in Flanders,” they used reports of contact provided by more than 1,000 grandchildren and compared them with more than 1,100 grandparent reports for validation. The results showed that grandchildren from divorced parents have fewer contacts with their grandparents than grandchildren whose parents are married but that it is the postdivorce residence arrangement of grandchildren that produces this result. When grandchildren live with their divorced father or in a shared residence arrangement, they even see paternal grandparents more often than grandchildren with married parents.     

Parental Divorce and Premarital Couples: Commitment and Other Relationship Characteristics

Parental divorce is thought to affect the romantic relationships of young adults, especially with respect to their certainty about the relationship and perceptions of problems in it. We examined these connections with a random sample of 464 coupled partners. Compared with women from intact families, women from divorced families reported less trust and satisfaction, but more ambivalence and conflict. For men, perceptions of relationships were contingent on the marital status of their partners' parents, although men from intact and divorced families did differ on structural constraints that affect commitment. Young adults who were casually dating showed the strongest effects of parental divorce, suggesting that the repercussions of parental divorce may be in place before the young adults form their own romantic relationships.     

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.     

Differences Between College Students from Divorced and Intact Families

We examined five hundred college students from intact and divorced families along several measures of adjustment. Further, comparisons within the divorce group were made across gender and number of years since the divorce with the covariates of parents' marital happiness prior to the divorce, remarriage, and who the student lived with after the divorce statistically controlled. Measures of adjustment included sexual behavior, attitudes toward marriage, depression, self-esteem, and general psychological functioning (pathology, anxiety, expression). Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that students from divorced families had significantly more sexual partners and more negative attitudes toward marriage than students from intact families. In addition, a significantly higher percentage of women from divorced families had had sexual intercourse as compared to women from intact families. Finally, women with parents that divorced within the past year were significantly more expressive than women with parents that divorced more than five years ago and more expressive than men with parents that had divorced within the past five years. The results are discussed in terms of the resolution of intimacy issues for college students with divorced parents and implications are drawn.     

Divorced parents and adolescent girls: The bouncing ball

In clinical work with divorced families and children, the continuing unfolding of developmental and familial issues has been observed over the spectrum of many years. While custody disputes soon after a divorce often reflect a playing out of control battles and ambivalence between the parents, changes in residence that occur during adolescence, years after a divorce, are seen as reflecting ongoing parental conflicts as well as phase specific adolescent developmental and divorce-related factors. Theoretical issues that deal with the resolution of adolescent developmental tasks in divorced families are explored and clinical experiences with these adolescent girls whose parents divorced during their earlier years are presented.     

Emotional Divorce: Child’s Well-Being

The effects of parental emotional divorce on the levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and aggression in children, as measured by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) and Aggression Questionnaire were studied. The measures were administered to a sample of 81 Iranian children ranging in age from 10 to 12 years old; 50 were in the legal divorce group and 31 were in the emotional divorce group. Children of emotionally divorced parents showed significantly higher levels of emotional and behavioral problems than counterparts from legally divorced parents. They reported more depression, anxiety, stress, and aggression. Additionally, moderate, severe, and extremely severe levels of emotional and behavioral problems were more common among emotional divorce children than legal divorce ones. In conclusion, the findings clearly showed that emotional divorce is more harmful than legal divorce. The differences between emotionally divorced and legally divorced families and the diversity of emotional and behavioral reactions among their children are discussed.     

Young Adults with Childhood Experience of Divorce: Disappointment and Contentment

The aim of this study was to use in-depth interviews to identify and describe experiences of parental divorce among adult children whose parents divorced 15 years earlier. Ten out of 76 interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Two categories of experiences were identified: disappointment and contentment. Two subcategories of disappointment were distinguished: disappointment toward mother, father, or both, and disappointment with relatives and other surrounding persons. Four subcategories of contentment were distinguished: contentment in the belief that the members of the original family received a good or even better life after the divorce, contentment with how the divorce was handled by the parents, contentment and inner strength as a part of the child's own personality, and contentment with receiving adequate help during and after the parental divorce.     

The Effects of Parental Divorce on the Moral Judgment Development of Freshman and Sophomore College Students

This research investigated the effects of parental divorce on the moral judgment development of freshman and sophomore college students (N?=?377). Freshmen with divorced parents had lower scores of moral judgment development than freshmen with married parents, whereas sophomores with divorced parents had higher moral judgment development scores than sophomores with married parents. It was also found that an experience changing homes in childhood or adolescence was negatively associated with moral judgment development for freshmen but positively associated with moral judgment development for sophomores. It was concluded that the change of environment associated with a parental divorce could enhance moral judgment development growth in the early years of college.     

Mid- and Late-Life Divorce and Parents’ Perceptions of Emerging Adult Children’s Emotional Reactions

A paucity of research exists pertaining to the experiences of emerging adult children in the context of parental divorce. This study uses Paul R. Amato’s divorce-stress-adjustment framework to organize a set of predictors that potentially influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s emotional reactions to a divorce. Data come from a nationally representative AARP study, from which we analyzed a sample of 283 parents who experienced a divorce at age 40 years or older. Results indicate that parental gender, nature of contact with the ex-partner, divorce timing, time spent contemplating divorce, a history of parental divorce, and the reason for divorce influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s reaction to the divorce. Implications, limitations, and future direction for research are discussed.     

Feeling Caught Between Parents: Adult Children's Relations With Parents and Subjective Well‐Being

Research on divorce has found that adolescents’ feelings of being caught between parents are linked to internalizing problems and weak parent‐child relationships. The present study estimates the effects of marital discord, as well as divorce, on young adult offspring's feelings of being caught in the middle (N =632). Children with parents in high‐conflict marriages were more likely than other children to feel caught between parents. These feelings were associated with lower subjective well‐being and poorer quality parent‐child relationships. Offspring with divorced parents were no more likely than offspring with continuously married parents in low‐conflict relationships to report feeling caught. Feelings of being caught appeared to fade in the decade following parental divorce. These results suggest that, unlike children of divorce, children with parents in conflicted marriages (who do not divorce) may be unable to escape from their parents’ marital problems—even into adulthood.     

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.