Parental Divorce and Romantic Attachment in Young Adulthood: Important Role of Problematic Beliefs |
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| Authors: | Rosemary Bernstein Dacher Keltner Heidemarie Laurent |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Psychology , University of Oregon , Eugene , Oregon , USA reb@uoregon.edu;3. Department of Psychology , University of California , Berkeley , California , USA;4. Department of Psychology , University of Wyoming , Laramie , Wyoming , USA |
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| Abstract: | In the current study 45 university students with either divorced or continuously married parents were surveyed about their romantic attachment, positive emotionality, depressive symptomology, self-esteem, and, when applicable, their retrospective beliefs about their parents’ marital dissolution. Findings revealed that parental divorce did not predict attachment insecurity, depression, or low self-esteem. In fact, adult children of divorced parents (ACDP) reported increased compassion, awe, enthusiasm, and perspective taking. Among ACDP, a composite factor representing increased fear of abandonment, peer rejection, and maternal blame was positively associated with adult attachment anxiety, even while controlling for parental conflict and divorce-related socioenvironmental disruption. Results are discussed in terms of their support of a complex understanding of the long-term effects of parental divorce, and in their inconsistency with a purely pathogenic model of parental divorce. |
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| Keywords: | parental divorce positive outcomes romantic attachment |
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