The Trajectory of Adolescent Mental Health: The Effects of
Parental Divorce and Marital Conflict during Childhood
ABSTRACT
Using a nationally representative dataset (Taiwan Education Panel Survey,
TEPS), this study examined the effect of parental divorce and marital conflict during
childhood on adolescent mental health, including happiness and depressed mood. The
final sample comprised 3,886 adolescents. Results from Hierarchical Linear
Regression (HLM) demonstrated that both parental divorce and marital conflict
during childhood reduced the initial level (grade 7th) of adolescent happiness, and
increased the initial level (grade 7th) of adolescent depressed mood. Furthermore,
adolescents from families with parental divorce (occurring when they were 0~12
years old) with pre-divorce marital conflict have the lowest happiness and highest
depressed mood, even worse than adolescents from two-parent families with marital
conflict.
Keywords: Adolescent mental health, parental divorce, parental marital conflict, HLM