Parental divorce and children well-being: a new challenge for social policies.
Anna Garriga PhD Candidate. Pompeu Fabra University. Department of Political and Social Sciences. Barcelona &
Institute of Government and Public Policy (IGOP) Autonomus University of Barcelona (UAB).
Clara Valls. PhD Candidate. Ramon Llull University. Department of Psychology. Barcelona.
Introduction
Introduction
-- Literature
Literature has
has shown
shown that
that parental
parental divorce
divorce isis negatively
negatively associated
associated with
with children’s
children’s well-being
well-being in
in short
short and
and long
long term
term (Amato,
(Amato,Spencer-Loomis
Spencer-Loomis&&Both,
Both,1995
1995)) Our
Our aim
aim isis to
to show
show the
the relationship
relationship between
between parental
parental divorce
divorce and
and
children
children educational
educational outcomes
outcomes and
andthe
the transition
transitionto
to adulthood.
adulthood.
-- ItIt has
(Amato&&Keith,
Keith,1991;
1991;Amato,
Amato,2001).
2001).
has been
beenshowed
showed in
incross-sectional
cross-sectional studies
studies that
that children
children who
who lived
lived parental
parental divorce
divorceshow
show worse
worse educational
educational outcomes
outcomes than
than children
children of
of intact
intactfamilies.
families. (Amato
For
For this
this reason,
reason, the
the question
question is:
is: Is
Isparental
parental divorce
divorce the
thefactor
factor that
thatcauses
causesall
all these
these differences
differencesor
orare
are the
thefamily’s
family’s characteristics
characteristicsbefore
before this
thisfact
fact ??
Amato
Amato (2001)
(2001) defends
defends that
that itit isisnecessary
necessaryto
to improve
improve the
the number
number and
and quality
qualityof
of pre-divorce
pre-divorcecontrols
controls in
in this
this kind
kindof
of analysis.
analysis.
OBJECTIVE
Toshow
show the
the effect
effectof
of parental
parental divorce
divorce on
on educational
educational outcomes
outcomesat
at 10
10 and
and 30
30years
years old,
old, including
including psychological,
psychological, sociological
sociologicaland
and economical
economicalcontrols
controlsin
in the
the same
same analysis.
analysis.
OBJECTIVE 1:
1: To
OBJECTIVE
22: To
OBJECTIVE 2:
To observe
observe the
the association
association between
between parental
parental divorce
divorce and
and transition
transition to
to adulthood
adulthood at
at 30
30 years
years old.
old. Transition
Transition to
to adulthood
adulthood isis related
related to:
to: psychological
psychological well-being
well-being and
and variables
variables associated
associated to
to
developmental
developmental tasks
taskstypical
typical of
of adulthood
adulthoodas
as the
theprocess
process of
of individuation
individuationand
and the
theformation
formationof
of couple
couple relationships
relationships (Ericson,
(Ericson,1982).
1982).
Data:
Data:
Longitudinal
Longitudinal studies
studies have
have aa long
long tradition
tradition in
in the
the United
United Kingdom.
Kingdom. The
The survey
survey “British
“British Cohort
Cohort Study
Study 70”
70” studies
studies the
the generation
generation that
that was
was born
born in
in 1970.
1970. Three
Three waves
waves of
of the
the survey
survey have
have been
been considered:
considered: when
when the
the cohort
cohort
members
members are
are 5,
5, 10
10and
and30
30 years
years old.
old.
Transition
Transition to
to adulthood
adulthood and
and couple
couple relationship:
relationship:
Educational
Educational Outcomes
Outcomes ::
Sample
Sample
Children who have lived with natural parents between 0 and 10 years old.
Children who have experienced parental divorce between 5 and 10 years old.
Young
Young adults
adults at
at 30
30 years
years old
old who
who have
have experienced
experienced parental
parental divorce
divorce ..
Young-adults
Young-adults at
at 30
30 years
years old
old whose
whose parents
parents have
have always
always lived
lived together.
together.
Closness
Results
- Close mother
- Close father
Individuation
process
Distance
Table 1: OLS Coeficients for educational outcomes at age 10.
Test
Divorce 5- 10 years
Sex
Mother’s age
Parents not from
Great Britain
Father’s manual class
Live in rented flat or
house
Father’s years of
education
Mother works more
than 20 hours.
Parents did not read
to the children last
week
Mother with
psicological problems
Child psicological
well-being
Chid reads some
words
Test (Copy Designs)
Test (Vocabulary)
Constant
R2
N
Sentences
-1,74** (0,83)
-0,98** (0,39)
0,02 (0,04)
Math
-1,74*** (0,68)
1,68*** (0,32)
0,04** (0,03)
Reading
-2,60*** (0,84)
-2,53*** (0,40)
0,04 (0,04)
Vocabulary
-1,23*** (0,45)
1,92*** (0,22)
0,04 (0,02)
-4,03*** (1,05)
-1,30*** (0,85)
-1,69 (1,06)
-2,12*** (0,57)
-4,17*** (0,48)
-3,91*** (0,39)
-4,47 *** (0,48)
-1,79*** (0,26)
-3,42*** (0,45)
-2,84*** (0,37))
-3,66 *** (0,46)
-1,62*** (0,25)
0, 70*** (0,11)
0, 73*** (0,09)
0, 94*** (0,11)
0, 43*** (0,06)
-1,20 (0,62)
-0,64** (0,33)
0, 31 (0,61)
-3,08***
-0,31*
(0,65)
(0,51)
-0,17***
(0,04)
-0,68
(0,51)
-2,05***
(0,54)
-4,04***
(0,66)
-1,23***
(0,36)
-0,98***
(0,41)
-1,71***
(0,51)
-0,97***
(0,27)
-0,19***
(0,04)
-0,20***
(0,04)
-0,03
(0,02)
2,16*** (0,41)
2,53*** (0,34)
3,24*** (0,42)
1,42*** (0,22)
4,27*** (0,15)
2,08*** (0,21)
72,38
0,204
7686
4,94*** (0,17)
1,70*** (0,12)
65,01
0,28
7602
5,44*** (0,22)
2,66*** (0,15)
67,19
0,28
7602
1,75*** (0,16)
1,57*** (0,08)
57,74
0,20
7722
*p<0.10, ** p<0.05,*** p<0.01
Table 2: Odds ratio for educational outcomes at age 30 .
Divorce 5- 10 years
Sex
Mother’s age
Parents not from
Great Britain
Father’s manual class
Live in rented flat or
house
Father’s years of
education
Mother works more
than 20 hours.
Parents didn’t read to
the children last week
Mother with
psicological problems
Child psicological
well-being
Chid reads some
words
Test (Copy Designs)
Test (Vocabulary)
Log-Likelihood
N
No O Level
1,46*** (0,12)
1,27*** (0,06)
1,00 (0,01)
No A Level
1,57*** (0,15)
1,17* (0,06)
0,99 (0,01)
No Degree
1,57*** (0,15)
1,17* (0,06)
0,99 (0,01)
0,69**
0,43**
0,43**
(0,17)
(0,17)
1,54*** ( 0,07)
1,90*** (0,06)
1,90*** (0,06)
1,87*** (0,06)
1,87*** (0,06)
0,88*** (0,02)
0,84*** (0,02)
0,84*** (0,02)
1,18*
(0,09)
1,08
1,38***
(0,09)
1,56***
1,10***
(0,07)
1,15*
(0,07)
1,15*
(0,07)
1,01***
(0,01)
1,01**
(0,01)
1,01**
(0,01)
(0,09)
1,08
1,56***
(0,09)
(0,09)
0,90*** (0,06)
0,92 (0,06)
0,92 (0,06)
0,70*** (0,02)
0,91*** (0,03)
7001,8
6676
0,77*** (0,02)
0,84*** (0,03)
7230,8
6676
0,77*** (0,02)
0,84*** (0,03)
7230,8
6676
Developmental
tasks
(Erikson, 1982)
1. “Sentences Test”, “Match
Test”, “Reading Test” and
“Vocabulary test” at 10 years
old have scores from 0 to
100.
-Feeling depressed
-Feeling irritated
Relational-Simbolic Model
(Scabini & Cigili, 2000)
Couple
relationships
Emotional
dimention
- Marit.happiness
- Marriage- cohab.
- Marriage opinion
Ethical
dimention
Table 3: Odds ratio for variables related to transition to adulthood at age 30.
We observe that, although
the introduction of controls in
all kind of dimensions, the
variable “parental divorce
between 5 and 10 years old”
have negative and significant
impact
on
the
scores
obtained in all tests.
- Demographic variables
- Economical Dimension
- Sociological Dimension
- Psychological Dimension
- Educational outcomes at 5
years old.
(0,17)
1,59*** ( 0,06 )
(0,09)
Psychological
Well-being
Parental
Divorce
Sex
Manual
class
Financial
Problems
Years
of
education
Parents not
from Great
Britain
Father’s
manual
class l
Father’s
years
of
education
LogLikelihood
N
Feeling
Depresed
Feeling
Irritated
Close
Mother
Close
Father
Marr/coho
r single
Marriageo
r cohab.
Marriage
opinion
1.308***
(.083)
.553***
(.077)
1.056
(.088)
2.228***
(.08)
.984
(.013)
1.508*
(.177)
1.209**
(.073)
.584***
(.066)
1.129
(.075)
1.485***
(.073)
.987
(.011)
.961
(.173)
.319***
(.099)
.715***
(.104)
.853
(.112)
.704***
(.109)
1.046**
(.020)
1.302
(.297)
.113***
(.081)
1.097
(.84)
.871
(.094)
.872
(.094)
.987
(.014)
.699*
(.207)
.578***
(0.075)
.810***
(.067)
1.19**
(.08)
.666***
(.076.)
.96***
(.01)
.567***
(.154)
.797***
(.076)
.756***
(.065)
.897
(.074)
.962
(.078)
.975*
(.010)
1.232
(.185)
.598***
(.113)
1.244*
(.102)
.895
(.116)
.898
(.12)
1.038*
(.018)
1.119
(.289)
1.018
(.087)
.953
(.074)
.839
(.119)
.851*
(.096)
1.22***
(.076)
.936
(.074)
.91
(.117)
1.012
(.02)
1.003
(.017)
.982
(.028)
1.012
(.023)
.947***
(.016)
.998
(.018)
.979
(.028)
4892.671
6190.830
3075.439
4079.058
5909.039
5857.939
2671.988
6019
619
5852
5535
5796
4529
2890
*p<0.10, ** p<0.05,*** p<0.01
2. Among variables “No O
level”, “No A level”, “No
Degree” the odds ratio of
the variable divorce is
always
positive
and
significant. Obtaining low
educational levels is more
likely to occur in those
people whose parents
have divorced between 5
and 10 years old than
those whose parents have
not divorced during the
same period.
Individual characteristics
Family characteristics
Table 4: OLS
Coeficients for
“How happy is
cohort member
relatioship?
scale”.
Parental
-.257**
Divorce
(.011)
Sex
.088
(.010)
Manual
.089
class
(.010)
Financial
-.022
Problems (.011)
Years of . 031 **
education (.015)
Parents
.024
not from (.024)
Great
Britain
Father’s
manual
class
Father’s
years of
education
Constant
R2
N
-.038
(.010)
-.003
(.025)
4.597
0.005
2849
*p<0.10, ** p<0.05,*** p<0.01
1. Parental divorce is positively associated with “Feeling depressed” and “Feeling irritable”.
2. Parental divorce is negatively associated with “Having a close relationship with the father” and
“Having a close relationship with the mother”.
3. Young adults who have experienced parental divorce have less probability of cohabitating with or
being married than being single (never-married).
4. Parental divorce is negatively associated with being married instead of cohabitating with.
5. Married people who experienced parental divorce have less probability of considering that “Marriage
is for life”, than those whose parents have not divorced.
6. Among those who are married, parental divorce has significant and negative association with the
continuous variable –“ How happy is the relationship”(a 10 points scale).
*p<0.10, ** p<0.05,*** p<0.01
Conclusion
Parental divorce is negatively associated with children’
children’s wellwell-being.
1. Parental divorce has negative and significant effects on children
children’’s educational outcomes at 10 and 30 years old, despite of the introduction
introduction of control variables before the divorce, considering economical,
sociological and psychological dimensions.
Referecnes
2. Among the variables related to the transition to the adulthood,
adulthood, we can not show effects of parental divorce,
but only associations. Parental divorce is associated with more difficulties in the transition to adulthood.
3. For this reason, if parental divorce has important effects on children’
children’s wellwell-being, we consider that social
policies and social services have to answer this new imbalance caused
caused by family instability. For this purpose,
psychologists have shown that some measures and programs can help
help families before and after divorce happens.
Amato, P. (2001). Children of divorce in the 1990s: An update of Amato & Keith (1991) Metaanalysis. Joural of Family Psychology, 15, 355-370.
Amato, P. & Keith, B. (1991). Parental divorce and adult well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of
Marriage and the family, 53, 43-58.
Amato, Spencer-Loomis & Both (1995). Parental divorce, marital conflict, and offspring well-being
during early adoulthood. Social Forces, 73, 895-915.
Erikson, E. (1982). The life cycle completed. New York: Norton.
Scabini, E. & Cigoli, V. (2000). Il famigliare. Legami, simbili e transizioni. Milano: Raffaello Cortina