The Effects of Interparental Divorce and Conflict on College Students' Romantic Relationships

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine college students' trust and love styles in their current romantic relationships as a function of structural (i.e., parental marital status, gender, sexual activity), family environment (i.e., conflict, cohesion, and expressiveness while growing up), and current relationship (e.g., length of relationship) variables. In general, family environment variables did not contribute significantly to trust or love styles among respondents whose parents were married. However, among respondents whose parents had divorced, family environment variables (including time since parental divorce) explained significant and substantive portions of variance in respondents' levels of trust and altruistic love. For respondents from both intact and divorced families, current relationship variables explained significant amounts of variance in several of the love styles. Results contribute to our understanding of how parental divorce and conflict may affect children's subsequent attitudes about and behaviors in romantic relationships. Further, results highlight the importance of parental efforts to maintain a positive family environment despite marital hardship.