The Effects of Divorce and Marital Discord on Adult Children's Psychological Well-being

By Paul R. Amato, Juliana M. Sobolewski. American Sociological Review, 2001

540 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Previous research has demonstrated associations between exposure to parental divorce and marital discord while growing up and children's psychological distress in adulthood. Few studies, however, have attempted to explain these associations. Three pathways are evaluated through which family disruption and discord may affect offspring's well-being: children's socioeconomic attainment, children's marital and relationship stability, and the quality of children's relations with parents. Using 17-year longitudinal data from two generations, results show that divorce and marital discord predict lower levels of psychological well-being in adulthood. Parent-child relationships mediate most of the associations between parents’ marital discord and divorce and children's subsequent psychological outcomes. Marital discord appears to erode children's emotional bonds with mothers, whereas both divorce and marital discord appear to erode children's emotional bonds with fathers. The results highlight the continuing importance of parent-child ties for children's well-being in early adulthood.

Subfields: Demography, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8072feff7fb0a468ad693724fb7d1d2d7a7d8e51

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Demography

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

The long reach of divorce: Divorce and child well‐being across three generations (2005, background): “Studies indicate that offspring with divorced parents have an elevated risk of experiencing emotional distress in adulthood (Amato & Sobolewski, 2001; Cherlin, Chase-Lansdale, & McRae, 1998).”
Parents' Discord and Divorce, Parent-Child Relationships and Subjective Well-Being in Early Adulthood: Is Feeling Close to Two Parents Always Better than Feeling Close to One? (2007, methodology): “For information about the sample, see Amato and Sobolewski 2001.)”
Psychological Well-being: Evidence Regarding its Causes and Consequences† (2009, background): “…absent, abusive, or authoritarian father is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems in adolescence and early adulthood (e.g. Amato & Sobolewski, 2001), while a few studies have also shown the benefits of a positive fathering style (e.g. paternal warmth) on a child’s…”
The Role of Depressed Mood and Anger in the Relationship Between Family Conflict and Delinquent Behavior (2004, background): “, arguments and physical violence in the home (Amato and Sobolewski, 2001; Henning et al., 1997; Horwitz and Widom, 2001; Jekielek, 1998).”