Abstract
Parental divorce is one of the most stressful life events for youth and is often associated with (long-lasting) emotional and behavioral problems (EBP). However, not much is known about the timing of the emergence of these EBP in adolescents relative to the moment of parental divorce, and its longitudinal effects. We therefore assessed this timing of EBP in adolescents of divorce and its longitudinal effects. We used the first four waves of the TRacking Adolescent’s Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohort, which included 2230 10–12 years olds at baseline. EBP were measured through the Youth Self-Report (YSR), as internalizing and externalizing problems. We applied multilevel analysis to assess the effect of divorce on EBP. The levels of both internalizing and externalizing problems were significantly higher in the period after parental divorce (β = 0.03, and 0.03, respectively; p < 0.05), but not in the period before divorce, with a persistent and increasing effect over the follow-up periods compared to adolescents not experiencing divorce. Adolescents tend to develop more EBP in the period after parental divorce, not before. These effects are long-lasting and underline the need for better care for children with divorcing parents.
Highlights
Between 1960 and 2016, the crude divorce rate in the European Union has risen from 0.8 to 1.9 per 1000 individuals a year making it one of the most frequent and common stressful events during one’s lifetime [1, 2]
The aim of the current study is to assess (a) if emotional and behavioral problems (EBP) of adolescents after parental divorce persist over time, and (b) if these EBP of adolescents occur before parental divorce or after parental divorce
We found that levels of EBP in adolescents were significantly increased post-parental divorce and that this increase persisted and even enlarged over time
Summary
Between 1960 and 2016, the crude divorce rate in the European Union has risen from 0.8 to 1.9 per 1000 individuals a year making it one of the most frequent and common stressful events during one’s lifetime [1, 2]. Amato showed that the adolescent adjusts more if the post-divorce standard of living does not exceptionally decline and the parents maintain a positive co-parenting relationship [8] This suggests a strong effect of post-divorce circumstances in the development of EBP. Both externalizing and internalizing problems increased at the first measurement after a parental divorce and continued to keep increase for two more periods (i.e., four years in total; lag 1, 2), in comparison with the group of adolescents that did not experience a divorce.
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