Parental Divorce and Couples’ Adjustment During the Transition to Parenthood: The Role of Parent-Adult Child Relationships

Abstract

In this study, the authors examined the associations between parental divorce, quality of relationships with parents, and dyadic adjustment during transition of 114 couples to parenthood. Data were collected during the third trimester of pregnancy and at 9 months postpartum. As predicted, the authors found that women from divorced families reported more conflict, less support, and less depth in the relationships with their fathers. However, it was the extent to which their relationships with their mothers were characterized by support that predicted women’s adjustment during their first pregnancy. Also as expected, for men, the link between parental divorce and both prenatal dyadic adjustment and residualized change scores of dyadic adjustment over time was mediated by the quality of their relationships with their fathers.