Transmission Of Divorce Research Articles

Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce in Sweden, 1920-2015.

Many studies demonstrate an intergenerational transmission of divorce with a focus primarily on more recent decades; however, the extent to which this relationship is deeply rooted or has changed over time remains unclear. Explanations, including sociodemographic and interpersonal factors, have been offered as links between parental divorce and the stability of offspring's marriage. We use individual-level longitudinal data from the Scanian Economic-Demographic Database to estimate the intergenerational transmission of divorce among first marriages in Sweden over the period 1920-2015. Our investigation focuses on the correlation between parental divorce and offspring's divorce during the transition from a low- to a high-divorce regime. Findings reveal surprising stability in the transmission despite fundamental societal change over the years. Notably, the risk of divorce is highest when either the wife or both spouses have experienced parental divorce. Moreover, the transmission of divorce across time appears to be stronger and more stable for women than for men. These results suggest the intergenerational transmission of divorce is part of the divorce transition and highlight the role of women's independence in this intricate but not yet fully understood process.

Young Adult’s Outlook on Marriage: The Influence of Parental Divorce, Family of Origin Functioning and Attachment Style

ABSTRACT To elucidate reasons for the variability in attitudes toward marriage held by adult children of divorce, the current, mixed-methods study examined the influence of parental divorce and remarriage(s), family of origin functioning and attachment style variables on young adults’ attitudes toward marriage. Participants who experienced their parents’ divorce, perceived high levels of conflict in their family of origin, were single and presented with discomfort in close relationships were more likely to express negativity in their outlook on marriage. Participants who denied religiosity and perceived their parents as encouraging independence while growing up were more likely to express an ambivalent attitude toward marriage. Lastly, men and those who had experienced their parents remarriage(s) were more likely to express positivity in their outlook on marriage. Although other factors were influential, parental divorce may promote negativity in young adults’ attitudes toward marriage, which possibly contributes to the “intergenerational transmission of divorce.”

Designing and Validating a Model for Preventing the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce (ITD) and its Effectiveness on Boredom and Marital Expectations

Aim: Each parent plays a vital role in the life of their children and intergenerational transmission of divorce shows that children who experience the divorce of their parents are more exposed to marital injuries. the goal of this study was to design and validate a model for preventing the intergenerational transmission of divorce in the children of single guardians due to divorce and its effectiveness on boredom and marital expectations.
 Methods: The present research was conducted with a mixed exploratory type. For the qualitative part of the research, classical grounded theory was used, while for the quantitative part a quasi-experimental method of experimental group - control group with pre and post test with follow-up was used. Research participants in the qualitative section included interviews with 26 couples with single-parent families resulting from divorce and the research sample in quantitative part included 32 couples with a single-parent family due to divorce. The qualitative part of the research was conducted with semi-structured interviews and the research tools in the quantitative part included the Omiedvar Marital Expectations and Pines Marital Burnout Questionnaires. In order to analyze the data, repeated measurement analysis of variance was used.
 Findings: From the total findings of the qualitative section, five main categories which expressed the marital damage of single-parent children caused by divorce discover and based on them and the opinion of experts the model for prevention of intergenerational transmission of divorce in single-parent children due to divorce was designed. Data analysis showed the effectiveness of the divorce prevention model on intergenerational transmission of divorce on boredom and marital expectations (p<0.01).
 Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, the model presented in this study can be used in preventing intergenerational transfer of divorce and to ensure and enduring married life for children of divorce.

Slábne v ČR mezigenerační přenos rozvodu?

This study investigates changes in the effect of parental divorce on the odds of union dissolution in children in the Czech Republic. Using survival analysis and Czech GGS data, it shows that the intergeneration transmission of divorce varied over marital cohorts to a significant degree. While parental divorce had insignificant effect in the oldest marriage cohort, it subsequently grew. In the 1980–1989 marriage cohort, the risk of divorce was 3.7 times higher among children of divorced parents than among children whose parents did not divorce. In the most recent marriage cohort (1990–2005), the parental divorce effect weakened but was still significant: children of divorced parents experienced a divorce risk that was twice as high that of children from intact families. This convergence of divorce risks resulted from two parallel trends: the rising divorce risk among children from non-divorced families and the declining divorce risk among children of divorce.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce: Evidence from China

The paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of divorce in China with the data from The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The empirical results show that parental divorce increases the odd ratio of children’s divorce significantly by 104.12% in complementary log-log model at 5% level with control variables, which means the probability of their children’s divorce will increase significantly. We adopt two models to investigate the heterogeneity in the intergenerational transmission of divorce. Firstly, according to the age when children experiencing parental divorce, the sample is divided into four groups:0-3 years old, 4-11 years old, 12-17 years old and over 17 years old. Secondly, based on whether parents remarry or not, the sample is also divided into four groups: none, just father, just mother and both remarry. The estimation results show that, the effect of parental divorce is more significant for those who experienced the parental divorce between the age of 4 and 11, the odds ratio would add by 174.39% significantly in complementary log-log model at 5% level with control variables. If just father remarried after parental divorced, odds ratio of divorce would increase by 361.09% in complementary log-log model at 1% level with control variables.

Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce and Its Mechanisms in Japan

Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce and Its Mechanisms in Japan

The effects of parental divorce on individuals’ commitment to same-sex relationships

Research on the intergenerational transmission of divorce has demonstrated that individuals who come from divorced families have reduced commitment to the institution of marriage, which may translate to reduced commitment to one’s current relationship. We tested the association between two components of relationship commitment (dedication and constraint) and parental divorce in a sample of 251 adults in same-sex relationships. Results demonstrated that parental divorce was significantly associated with lower dedication commitment among women, but not men. Parental divorce was not associated with constraint commitment for either gender. These findings suggest that, consistent with research on individuals in different-sex relationships, women in same-sex relationships who come from divorced families may feel less dedicated to their own relationships, putting them at greater risk for relationship instability and divorce.

Genetics, the Rearing Environment, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce: A Swedish National Adoption Study

We used classical and extended adoption designs in Swedish registries to disentangle genetic and rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. In classical adoption analyses, adoptees (n = 19,715) resembled their biological parents, rather than their adoptive parents, in their history of divorce. In extended adoption analyses, offspring (n = 82,698) resembled their not-lived-with fathers and their lived-with mothers. There was stronger resemblance to lived-with mothers, providing indirect evidence of rearing-environment influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce. The heritability of divorce assessed across generations was 0.13. We attempted to replicate our findings using within-generation data from adoptive and biological siblings (ns = 8,523–53,097). Adoptees resembled their biological, not adoptive, siblings in their history of divorce. Thus, there was consistent evidence that genetic factors contributed to the intergenerational transmission of divorce but weaker evidence for a rearing-environment effect of divorce. Within-generation data from siblings supported these conclusions.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Union Instability in Early Adulthood.

Research on the intergenerational transmission of divorce should be expanded to incorporate disrupted nonmarital cohabitations. The current study (1) examined the transmission of union instability from parents to offspring using Waves I and IV of Add Health, (2) replaced the binary variables (divorced versus non-divorced) typically used in this literature with count variables (number of disrupted unions), (3) relied on independent sources for data on parents' and offspring's union disruptions to minimize same-source bias, (4) assessed the mediating role of 11 theoretically derived variables (many not previously considered in this literature), and (5) incorporated information on discord in intact parental unions. Parent and offspring union disruptions were positively linked, with each parental disruption associated with a 16% increase in the number of offspring disruptions, net of controls. The mediators collectively accounted for 44% of the estimated intergenerational effect. Parent discord in intact unions also was associated with more offspring disruptions.

Being Caught in the Middle of Inter-Parental Conflict: Relationship between Inter-Parental Conflict and Attitudes towards Marriage among Male and Female Adolescents from Divorced Families

Children of divorced family are at greater risk to divorce themselves in later years. In an attempt to understand the process of “transmission of divorce” across generations, the current study examined the potential moderation role of gender in the relationship between inter-parental conflict and attitudes towards marriage among adolescents from divorced Muslim family. A total of 341 secondary school students across three states in Malaysia were recruited to participate in the current study. Results of multivariate analysis revealed that being male and exposure to high inter-parental conflict predicted less positive attitudes towards marriage. Gender has no moderating effects in the relationship between inter-parental conflict and attitudes towards marriage. These findings underscore the deleterious effects of inter-parental conflict on adolescents.

Long-term effects of parental separation

This study investigates the long-term effects of parental separation during childhood on crucial partnership-related outcomes later in life, such as first cohabitation, first marriage, and first divorce, in Germany. To address this, we differentiate between a risk effect i.e. having a specific partnership-related event outcome later in life, and a timing effect i.e. having the event earlier or later. We also focus on age effects, analyzing the impact of parental separation at specific ages during childhood. We applied event history models to a sample of 2174 individuals taken from the second and third wave of the German pairfam data (Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics). Our empirical results indicate that parental separation works as a strong ‘push effect’ particularly on the timing of leaving the parental home and moving-in together with a partner. However, this push effect on cohabitation does not apply to marriage. Here we find no effects of childhood transitions on marriage rate. With regard to the transition rate to divorce, our data confirm the well-known hypothesis of the intergenerational transmission of divorce. We find that those who experienced a parental separation have a lower probability of staying married. Looking at specific age effects, we find that experiencing a parental separation before age seven is an influencing factor in regard to timing of a first cohabitation as well as on the risk of having an own divorce later in life.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce: A Fifteen-Country Study with the Fertility and Family Survey

Abstract Studies mainly from the United States provide evidence that children of divorced parents face a higher risk of divorce in their own marriages. We estimate and analyze the effects of divorce transmission using comparative individual data from the United Nations for 13 eastern and western European countries as well as for Canada and the United States. We find substantial and highly statistically significant transmission effects in all samples. This shows that the intergenerational transmission of divorce is a widespread phenomenon observed without a single exception in our data covering a large number of countries with differing historical, institutional, and cultural contexts.

Consideraciones en torno a las implicaciones de dos problemas lógico-conceptuales en los estudios sobre nupcialidad en las últimas cinco décadas / Considerations Regarding the Implications of Two Logical-Conceptual Problems in Studies on Marriage Rates ov

El propósito de este artículo es reconocer los elementos que ocasionan la complejidaddel conocimiento de los estudios sobre nupcialidad. Además se examinan dos problemas lógico-conceptuales que se identifican en los estudios sobre constitución y disolución de las uniones: a) la ausencia de definición del par antitético estabilidad-inestabilidad y la carencia de justificación científica para su aplicación a casados, a cohabitantes, a separados y a divorciados; b) el presupuesto de la transmisión intergeneracional del divorcio. AbstractThe purpose of this article is to identify the elements that cause the complexity of theknowledge in studies on marriage. It also examines two logical-conceptual problemsidentified in studies on the establishment and dissolution of unions: The absence of the definition of the stability-instability dyad and the lack of scientific justification for applying this to co-habiting married couples and separated or divorced persons; b) thepresumption of the inter-generational transmission of divorce.

More Evidence for Trends in the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce: A Completed Cohort Approach Using Data From the General Social Survey

Many studies have demonstrated that the children of divorce are disproportionately likely to end their own marriages. In previous work, I showed that the transmission of divorce between generations weakened substantially for General Social Survey (GSS) respondents interviewed between 1973 and 1996 (Wolfinger 1999); Li and Wu (2006, 2008) contended that my finding is a methodological artifact of the GSS's lack of marriage duration data. This article presents a completed-cohort approach to studying divorce using the GSS. The results confirm a decline in the probability of divorce transmission that cannot be explained by the right-censoring bias alleged by Li and Wu. This finding contributes to an ongoing debate about trends in the negative consequences of parental divorce, as well as demonstrating a useful approach to right-censored phenomena when event history data are not available.

The influence of offspring's sex and age at parents’ divorce on the intergenerational transmission of divorce, Norwegian first marriages 1980–2003

Whether a couple remain married or divorce has repeatedly been shown to be of importance for the marital stability of their children. This paper addresses the related question of whether the intergenerational transmission of divorce is contingent on the age at which parents divorced and the sex of the spouse who experienced the parents’ divorce. Using a population-wide data-set on Norwegian first marriages followed from 1980 to 2003, we find that the intergenerational transmission hypothesis holds also for Norway, that this relationship is stronger for women than for men, and that there is a negative age gradient in the transmission effect for women. The experience of multiple family transitions, such as a parent's remarriage or a second divorce, does not affect couples’ divorce risk.

Parental divorce and adult children's attachment representations and marital status

The purpose of this study was to explore adult attachment as a means of understanding the intergenerational transmission of divorce, that is, the propensity for the children of divorce to end their own marriages. Participants included 157 couples assessed 3 months prior to their weddings and 6 years later. Participants completed the Adult Attachment Interview and questionnaires about their relationships, and were videotaped with their partners in a couple interaction task. Results indicated that, in this sample, adult children of divorce were not more likely to divorce within the first 6 years of marriage. However, parental divorce increased the likelihood of having an insecure adult attachment status. For women, age at the time of their parents' divorce was related to adult attachment status, and the influence on attachment representations may be more enduring. Among adult children of divorce, those who were classified as secure in their attachment representations were less likely to divorce in the early years of marriage than insecure participants.

The intergenerational transmission of divorce in cross-national perspective: Results from the Fertility and Family Surveys

We used data on women's first marriages from the Fertility and Family Surveys to analyse the intergenerational transmission of divorce across 18 countries and to seek explanations in macro-level characteristics for the cross-national variation. Our results show that women whose parents divorced have a significantly higher risk of divorce in 17 countries. There is some cross-national variation. When compared with the USA, the association is stronger in six countries. This variation is negatively associated with the proportion of women in each cohort who experienced the divorce of their parents and with the national level of women's participation in the labour force during childhood. We conclude that differences in the contexts in which children of divorce learn marital and interpersonal behaviour affect the strength of the intergenerational transmission of divorce.

No trend in the intergenerational transmission of divorce.

Previous studies on trends in the intergenerational transmission of divorce have produced mixed findings, with two studies (McLanahan and Bumpass 1988; Teachman 2002) reporting no trend in divorce transmission and one study (Wolfinger 1999) finding that divorce transmission has weakened substantially. Using a stratified Cox proportional hazard model, we analyze data from the National Survey of Families and Households and find no evidence for any trend in divorce transmission. To reconcile apparent differences in results, we note that the General Social Survey data used by Wolfinger lack information on marital duration, permitting analysis only for whether respondents have divorced by interview. As a result, an apparent decline in divorce transmission could be due to inadequate adjustments for the longer exposures to risk by earlier marriage cohorts, yielding a higher probability of divorce by interview for earlier cohorts relative to more recent cohorts even if divorce risks are identical across all marriage cohorts. We confirm this possibility by using a series of discrete-time hazard logistic regressions to investigate the sensitivity of estimates of trends in divorce transmission to different adjustments for exposure to risk. We conclude that there has been no trend in the intergenerational transmission of divorce.

Effects of parental divorce on marital commitment and confidence.

Research on the intergenerational transmission of divorce has demonstrated that compared with offspring of nondivorced parents, those of divorced parents generally have more negative attitudes toward marriage as an institution and are less optimistic about the feasibility of a long-lasting, healthy marriage. It is also possible that when entering marriage themselves, adults whose parents divorced have less personal relationship commitment to their own marriages and less confidence in their own ability to maintain a happy marriage with their spouse. However, this prediction has not been tested. In the current study, we assessed relationship commitment and relationship confidence, as well as parental divorce and retrospectively reported interparental conflict, in a sample of 265 engaged couples prior to their first marriage. Results demonstrated that women's, but not men's, parental divorce was associated with lower relationship commitment and lower relationship confidence. These effects persisted when controlling for the influence of recalled interparental conflict and premarital relationship adjustment. The current findings suggest that women whose parents divorced are more likely to enter marriage with relatively lower commitment to, and confidence in, the future of those marriages, potentially raising their risk for divorce.

The Consequences of Parental Divorce on the Life Course Outcomes of Canadian Children

Applying the theory of the intergenerational transmission of divorce, this paper examines the consequences of parental divorce on three aspects of the life course of children: union formation, nonmarital fertility, and marital dissolution. The 1995 Canadian General Social Survey (GSS) is used to estimate various regression models (Cox proportional hazards). Results show that children of divorced parents have a significantly higher likelihood to have births outside of marriage, enter into cohabiting unions, and to experience higher levels of divorce. Throughout the paper, attention is placed on the markedly different behaviour observed in Quebec compared to elsewhere in Canada.