Divorce And Children’s Social Development Research Paper

1. Rise Of Divorce As An Area Of Study

As compared to earlier decades, the divorce rate in the USA rose rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s. The annual divorce rate in 1940, for example, was nine divorces per 1,000 existing marriages. This figure almost tripled by the end of the 1970s, climbing to an annual rate of over 22 divorces per 1,000 marriages (see Cherlin 1992 for a discussion). Since then, the annual divorce rate has declined slightly, to around 20 divorces per 1,000 marriages, but remains far above the levels of the middle part of the twentieth century. The divorce rate in the USA is far higher than in other industrialized nations, more than 1.5 times the divorce rate in the UK, and more than double that of Germany, France, and Japan. As a consequence, it is estimated that as many as 60 percent of children in the USA will spend some of their childhood or adolescence in a single-parent family. The marked increase in divorce has led researchers to examine how variations in family arrangements affect the development of children.

The most common strategy used to investigate this topic has been to compare children who have experienced parental divorce with children who have not. Although the specific estimate varies across studies (see Amato and Keith 1991a for a metaanalysis), in general, about 20 percent of children experiencing parental divorce exhibit serious problems, compared to about 10 percent of children who have not experienced parental divorce. This finding can be interpreted in different ways to support opposing perspectives of the effects of divorce on children’s adjustment. Because this finding shows that risk of serious problems is doubled, it can be concluded that parental divorce has very negative consequences for children. Alternately, because the finding also shows that 80 percent of children who experience this transition show no serious difficulties, it can be concluded that parental divorce has limited negative consequences. These opposing interpretations, based on simple comparison studies, are evident throughout the history of divorce as an area of study (see Simons et al. 1996 for a discussion).

Over the last several decades, research strategies have evolved to provide a more nuanced picture of divorce and children’s development. Improvements in the methods used in these studies, such as including statistical controls, broadening the taxonomy of outcomes assessed, obtaining assessments from multiple perspectives, incorporating observational measures, documenting changes in children’s adjustment over time, and obtaining assessments of children and families prior to divorce, have allowed for a more detailed view of parental divorce and its aftermath. These studies have led to a growing awareness that children’s responses to parental divorce are highly variable and dependent on the particular set of circumstances faced by families before and after the actual marital dissolution (see Hetherington et al. 1998 for a review). In this view, the experience of divorce brings with it a series of unique challenges and changes and entails a complex mixture of potentially positive and negative consequences. Researchers from this perspective, which is labeled a transactional or mediational model, view marital transitions as involving a cascade of predivorce and postdivorce changes in family relationships and economic/social circumstances. It is these changes, rather than divorce itself, that affect children’s adjustment. This transactional model of divorce has become the dominant paradigm for contemporary research (Amato 1993, Emery 1988, Forgatch et al. 1995, Hetherington 1989, Hetherington et al. 1998, Simons et al. 1996).

2. Adjustment Of Children In Divorced Homes

Compared to children who have never experienced their parents’ divorce, those who have score lower on measures of well-being and higher on measures of a wide array of problems (see Hetherington et al. 1998 for a review). Children of divorce are more likely to have academic problems and difficulties in relationships with peers, parents, and siblings. They exhibit higher levels of externalizing problems, such as actingout behaviors, noncompliance, aggression, hyperactivity, and delinquency. They also exhibit higher levels of internalizing problems, such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and social withdrawal. As adolescents, they have higher rates of school dropout, substance abuse, sexual activity, and teenage pregnancy. As adults, they have lower occupational status and life satisfaction, and higher rates of economic hardship and mental health problems such as depression (see Amato and Keith 1991b for a meta-analysis of adult outcomes). In addition, their own marriages are more likely to be negative and coercive and to end in divorce. Although these adverse outcomes are more common in children from divorced homes than in children who have not experienced divorce, it is important to note that the majority of children experiencing this parental transition escape these problems.

Parental divorce may either initiate new difficulties or exacerbate existing ones. Studies that assess children prior to parental divorce demonstrate that problem behaviors are evident well before the marital dissolution (e.g., Block et al. 1988). In addition, many of the differences between children who have and have not experienced parental divorce are diminished once predivorce functioning has been controlled (Cherlin et al. 1991). Thus, it is possible that some of the difficulties exhibited by children of divorce are a result of factors that have existed prior to the divorce itself. Studies showing higher problem behavior among children of divorce therefore may be a consequence of simply having a greater proportion of more vulnerable individuals represented in the divorced population, a problem known as selection. In support, some studies have demonstrated that genetic factors play a significant role in the risk of divorce (Jockin et al. 1996). It is important to note, however, that several other studies show a significant increase in problems for children of divorce, even after controlling for predivorce factors (e.g., Chase-Lansdale et al. 1995).

Researchers have investigated whether the effects of parental divorce depend on the child’s gender, age, or the length of time since divorce (see Hetherington et al. 1998 for a discussion). A clear picture from these studies has yet to emerge. With respect to gender, early studies showed that boys had more difficulty adjusting to divorce than girls. More recent studies cast doubt on these findings by showing that adolescents from divorced families demonstrate higher rates of conduct problems and depression, regardless of gender. In fact, emerging evidence indicates that females may exhibit greater long-term consequences when teen parenthood is involved. This early transition to parenthood is likely to have more adverse effects for females because of their more common role as custodial parents.

Relative to child age at the time of divorce, some researchers have concluded that preschool-age children are at greatest risk for long-term problems. They argue that limitations in cognitive development hinder younger children from understanding the complex nature of divorce, giving rise to fears of parental abandonment and problematic outcomes. Other researchers have countered that the results concerning age are inconsistent and inconclusive. In many studies, for example, the child’s age is confounded with the length of time since parental divorce: the greater difficulties found in younger children may reflect the fact that less time has passed since the divorce occurred.

It is also not clear how children’s adjustment to divorce changes over time. Some studies have shown that children exhibit an increase in problem behavior in the immediate aftermath of divorce that dissipates over time, suggesting that at least some of the difficulties are transitory. Other studies have indicated that problem behavior may emerge at a later age such as adolescence, when children face new challenges (e.g., Hetherington 1989). Some long-term follow-up studies document that the effects of divorce on problem behavior persists into adulthood at least for a subset of children by affecting educational and occupational attainment (Amato and Keith 1991b, Chase-Lansdale et al. 1995).

In sum, although parental divorce is associated with an increased risk of problem behavior overall, children’s responses to divorce are highly variable, and the particular trajectory of development is affected by the particular circumstances occurring before and after divorce. The environmental factors influencing children’s adjustment to divorce are addressed in the next section.

3. Risk And Protective Factors

In the transactional model of divorce, changes in family relationships and environmental circumstances before and after divorce, rather than the divorce itself, are the critical determinants of children’s postdivorce adjustment problems. These risk and protective factors influence the extent to which children will be adversely affected by parental divorce. Factors that are present prior to divorce include characteristics of the parents themselves (see Capaldi and Patterson 1991). Research indicates that parents who divorce are more likely to have a history of economic problems, alcoholism, depression, and antisocial behavior. Not surprisingly, they also are more likely to have poor parenting skills prior to the divorce. Postdivorce differences in children’s adjustment may thus reflect predivorce exposure to inconsistent, inept childrearing practices and chaotic household routines. Moreover, couples who later divorce are more likely to display poorer conflict resolution skills and higher negativity. Through modeling and imitation, children may learn these ineffective strategies and employ them in other contexts. For example, in high conflict homes, children may be drawn into marital conflict as a way for spouses to gain relative advantage over each other, and these experiences may train children to manipulate their parents. Consistent with these notions, research has shown that children living in homes where the marriage is distressed but not yet formally dissolved fare worse than those who experience a relatively amicable divorce (see Hetherington 1999). In addition, divorce appears to improve the adjustment of children for whom postdivorce parental conflict is dramatically reduced over predivorce levels.

Some risk and protective factors involve changes occurring after divorce. For many families, parental divorce introduces a series of social and economic changes that may interfere with the functioning of both parents and children (see Forgatch et al. 1995, Hetherington et al. 1998, Simons et al. 1996 for more detailed discussion). Economic stress introduces deterioration in living conditions, as families move to neighborhoods and schools of lower quality. Custodial parents face the challenge of task overload in managing new household, childcare, and financial responsibilities. Custodial parents may lose friends who were part of the couple’s network, resulting in isolation and reductions in social support. Adults dealing with such stressors show higher rates of physical and mental health problems that interfere with their ability to be competent parents. Consistent with this view, custodial and noncustodial parents are less effective and consistent in controlling and monitoring their children, and show higher levels of punitiveness and irritability with their children than nondivorced parents. Moreover, conflict between parents and children becomes more frequent and intense after divorce. Researchers have consistently demonstrated that child adjustment after divorce is explained in part by the effect of stressors experienced by custodial parents on their parenting practices and that high quality custodial parent–child relationships mitigate the negative effect of divorce-related stressors on adjustment problems.

In addition to deteriorations in the quality of the relationship between the custodial parent and child, most children experience a dramatic loss of contact with the noncustodial parent. Although noncustodial mothers are more likely to maintain contact with their children than are noncustodial fathers, simply maintaining contact with the noncustodial parent does not appear to enhance children’s postdivorce adjustment. Involvement with a noncustodial parent is most beneficial when parents maintain an amicable postdivorce relationship. Moreover, the quality rather than the quantity of the involvement by the noncustodial parent appears to play a more critical role in children’s postdivorce adjustment (Hetherington et al. 1998, Simons et al. 1996).

Following divorce, relationships with siblings and peers change as well. Sibling relationships become more negative and conflictual, and such changes in relationships have been related to increased aggression and other problem behaviors. Moreover, children of divorce are more likely to become involved with antisocial peers, and may experience a loss of positive peer support due to residential changes. These alterations in peer relationships may exacerbate potential difficulties by increasing the child’s exposure to delinquent activities or by removing a potential buffer from conflictual relationships within the family (Hetherington et al. 1998).

4. Future Directions

For a sizeable group of children, the initial divorce is the first in a series of parental transitions. About half of all children whose parents divorce will become part of a stepfamily, and 10 percent of children will experience two divorces of their custodial parent during childhood or adolescence. Many children will join new families through cohabitation rather than remarriage, and there is some evidence that cohabiting families experience even higher rates of dissolution than remarried families. A sequence of multiple family transitions places children at increased risk for problematic outcomes. Research is needed to understand how children respond to their custodial parents’ dating, repartnering, and cohabitation, and to identify factors that promote or hinder children’s adaptation.

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