Saturday, April 13, 2013

The Effects of Parental Divorce on Children's Future Romantic Relationships

Kristiana Letourneau

    There is a tendency in our culture to dismiss adolescent and young adult romantic relationships as not being serious, as they are often short-lived and may seem unnecessarily dramatic, especially from an adult point of view. However, researchers have begun to show more interest in these relationships, arguing that it is extremely important to examine their dynamics in order to better understand how they might set a stable foundation for future relationships. According to Cui, Fincham, and Durtschi (2010), “the formation and maintenance of romantic relationships are critical developmental tasks for youth during the transition to adulthood,” and the patterns observed in these relationships may act as predictors for how their future relationships and potential marriages may look. With that in mind, I was curious to know what research existed around the topic of romantic relationships among those who had experienced divorce in their childhood compared to those who had not. I found three studies that each sampled a different age group, and had their own sets of results that were equally fascinating to me.

    In a 2010 study of divorce and romantic relationships in early adolescence, Heifetz, Connolly, Pepler, & Craig state that prior research has indicated that family experiences, including parental divorce, family conflict, and parental monitoring, play an important role in adolescent relationships. Their study sampled 1,765 adolescents in grades 5-8 from both intact as well as divorced families and compared their dating patterns, susceptibility to romantic influence, and romantic relationship quality. According to the research, adolescents from divorced families report that they date more frequently and are more susceptible to romantic influence, but do not differ in their romantic relationship quality when compared with adolescents from intact families.
Cui et al.’s study, also conducted in 2010 but with undergraduate students, found that young adults who had experienced parental divorce had a more favorable attitude towards divorce than those from intact families, as they demonstrated lower levels of commitment and higher incidences of romantic relationship dissolution (break ups) during the 14-week study.
    In 16-year follow up study conducted by Mustonen et al., all 16-year-olds in one city in Finland were given a questionnaire and asked to fill out a follow-up survey once they reached 32 years of age. The results of this study showed that more men and women from divorced families were separated or divorced at age 32 than were men and women from intact families, but interestingly, only women associated parental divorce in their childhood with poorer quality in their adult romantic relationships. The authors of the study suspect that this is related to poorer relationships with both parents in adolescence, as well as lower self-esteem and less satisfaction with social support (Mustonen et al., 2011).

    So what do these different results tell us about the effect of divorce on romantic relationships at different stages in one’s life? The first study looked at young adolescents (grades 5-8), and from these results, it seems that divorce in their childhood influenced them to date more frequently than their peers from intact families, and they viewed themselves as being more susceptible to romantic influence. However, at this stage in their lives, these adolescents didn’t seem to believe that the quality of their romantic relationships was influenced by their parent’s divorce. In the second study, young adults (undergraduate students) with divorced parents had lower commitment levels in their romantic relationships and experienced more breakups. They also viewed divorce in a more positive light than those from intact families. The third study sampled adults (32 years of age) showed that adults with divorced parents were more likely to be separated or divorced as well, but only women attributed this to their parent’s divorce. What I took away from these various studies was that parental divorce does seem to have a negative impact on their children’s future relationships, but the impact manifests itself differently at each stage of development. I didn’t find a study that looked at all of these life stages together, so I can’t make a definite conclusion as to whether or not each one sets the groundwork for the next, but based on what I did find, I would say that this seems to be the case.


Questions
  • Based on these studies, it seems that young adults who experienced parental divorce have a more favorable attitude towards divorce in general. What might be some specific reasons for this?
  • Why might adolescents with divorced parents report dating more frequently than their peers with married parents?

References

Cui, M., Fincham, F. D., & Durtschi, J. A. (2010). The effect of parental divorce on young adults' romantic relationship dissolution: What makes a difference?. Journal of the International Association for Relationship Research.

Heifetz, M., Connolly, J., Pepler, D., & Craig, W. (2010). Family divorce and romantic relationships in early adolescence. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 51(6), 366-378. doi: 10.1080/10502551003652157

Mustonen, U., Huurre, T., Kiviruusu, O., Haukkala, A., & Aro, H. (2011). Long-term impact of parental divorce on intimate relationship quality in adulthood and the mediating role of psychosocial resources. Journal of Family Psychology, 25(4), 615-619.


1 comment:

  1. This was really interesting to read!!what stood out to me was the 2010 divorce study. I never really thought that "family experiences, including parental divorce, family conflict, and parental monitoring, play an important role in adolescent relationships." I didn't imagine that all of that plays a role in adolescent relationships.

    Questions & Answers:
    Based on these studies, it seems that young adults who experienced parental divorce have a more favorable attitude towards divorce in general. What might be some specific reasons for this?
    -I think that young adults who experience parental divorce have a more favorable attitude towards divorce because they see it and experience it. They believe that it is okay to get a divorce.
    Why might adolescents with divorced parents report dating more frequently than their peers with married parents?
    - that's a good question. I think adolescents with divorced parents are seen to date more frequently than peers whose parents are married because they may want to rebel or they may crave the attention which they may not get from both of his/her parents.

    -irina

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