The Impact of Experiences of Parental Divorce and Parental Conflict on Young Australian Adult Men and Women.

Abstract

This study (a) investigated the long-term effects of parental conflict and divorce on young men and women who had experienced these disturbances in their childhood or adolescence, and (b) explored gender and socioeconomic status differences in the impact of these factors on externalising and internalising behaviours. The participants were 120 Psychology 1 students (60 females and 60 males) from the University of Sydney, consisting of 40 males and 40 females with married parents, and 20 males and 20 females with divorced parents. Results of the study indicate that when parental marital status alone is considered, there does appear to be evidence of increased externalising behaviour in children of divorce, even after 2 years. However, there was no evidence of an interaction with gender, and the increase held to the same extent for males as for females. When parental conflict and socioeconomic status were controlled, the relationship between divorce and externalising behaviour was no longer significant, with parental conflict being the sole significant independent contributor to the effect. With regard to internalising behaviour, the results suggest that females are more affected by parental divorce than are males. This result is maintained when controlling for the effects of parental conflict and socioeconomic status.