Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of the Consequences of Marital Union Dissolution on Parents and Children

Abstract

This paper utilizes visual analytics and bibliometric analysis techniques to evaluate the temporal trends and visualization of the consequences of marital union dissolution on parents and children using data from 1339 documents retrieved from the Web of Science between 1979 and 2019. The results highlight five outcomes. First, the past three decades show a direct upward trend in scientific production and the rate of divorce. Second, the clusters of terms identify various negative consequences of divorce on the household members, with severe economic effects on women and children. Parental divorce causes severe damaging effects on the offspring than the parents are aware or willing to acknowledge. Third, divorce causes children’s social, behavioral, psychological, and health problems, and social and economic problems to divorced spouses. Fourth, visual analytics show that adversities from divorce are not linear but highlight significant inter-play among the items. Finally, considerable research output originates from countries with a high rate of divorce. The paper contributes to the scholarship of integration in marital breakdown, parental divorce consequences, and offspring adversities.