Research on Divorce: Continuing Trends and New Developments

“Although divorce has been studied extensively among younger adults, the research to date has essentially ignored divorce that occurs to adults aged 50 and older (Amato, 2010; Cooney & Dunne, 2001; Sweeney, 2010).”

“More common stressors, such as parental divorce [40–43] or low socioeconomic status during childhood [44,45] are associated with psychopathology as well.”

“In reviews of the research literature on family structure and child wellbeing, Amato (2010), McLanahan et al. (2013), and Sweeney (2010) all recommended that researchers working in this area conduct new studies with fixed effects models and related methods for dealing with omitted-variable bias.”

“…with more distal predictors, there is evidence that family structure (e.g., married vs. single parent), being from a majority group, and financial resources are associated with high motivation and subsequent achievement (Amato, 2010; Crosnoe, 2006; Evans, 2004; Yeung, Linver, & Brooks-Gunn, 2002).”

“Most adults manage the transition of divorce well and can be described as resilient (Amato, 2010; Mancini, Bonanno, & Clark, in press); however, for a small percentage of people, marital separation and divorce are acute stressors that become chronic.”

“However, as our discussion has shown, we have ample reason to question the overall advantages of monogamy given persistent infidelity, complaints about lack of attraction for a monogamous partner, and divorce rates within the United States at nearly 50% (Amato, 2010).”

“As a result of the separation, children cease to live full-time with both parents, which requires adjustment to the new situation and can start, intensify, or end exposure to parental conflict (Amato 2010; Cherlin 1999; Pryor and Rodgers 2001).”

“Parenthood also affects relationship quality and outcomes, including the likelihood of separation and divorce and the subjective well-being and health of parents (Amato 2010).”

“Countless studies have shown that separation or divorce is associated with lower levels of well-being for children and for parents (e.g., Amato, 2010; Härkönen, Bernardi, & Boertien, 2017).”

“A case in point is the US, where the education of both spouses is negatively associated with divorce (Amato 2010).”

“604 In studies of dropout, stress proliferation and configuration suggests, for instance, that parental divorce may be especially likely to curb school perseverance when it comes with other stressors, such as a significant loss of family income, parental substance abuse, residential mobility, and social isolation on e…”

“Individuals who have experienced divorce are more likely to divorce again in the event of an unsatisfactory marriage (Amato, 2010).”

“Many of the children caught up in the experience of divorce exhibit difficulties in functioning, including frequent behavior problems and deficiencies in academic performance, even years following the event (Amato, 2001, 2010; Amato & Keith, 1991; Lansford et al., 2006; Wood, Repute, & Rosh, 2004).”

“The research literature indicates that divorce is associated with an increased risk of behavioral, psychological, and academic problems among children (Amato, 2000, 2010; Hetherington & Kelly, 2002; Kelly & Emery, 2003).”

“An important task in research on divorce is identifying moderating variables that predict positive outcomes (Amato, 2010); we believe that the yet-unstudied construct of selfcompassion may be one such variable.”

“These studies and the broader literature on resilience after divorce (25) illustrate a key point: most people fare well, but some people suffer quite a lot.”

“Previous research on single parenthood and child and adolescent outcomes suggests that not only are there race differences in the likelihood of growing up in a single-parent home [29], but there also are race differences in the magnitude of the effects of”

“Divorce affects a number of other groups beyond the married couple, including their children, their community, and the economy (Amato, 2010; McManus & DiPrete, 2001); and because pornography use is growing among younger Americans, any observed association between porn use and marital stability could portend broader so…”

“This gap is notable given the history of research on the influence of relationship characteristics on entry and exit from marriage (Amato, 2010).”

“Most studies find that children living with two biological parents have higher levels of well-being, on average, than children in stepfamilies and single-parent households, in part because two-biological-parent families are usually better equipped to provide key resources (Amato, 2010; Carr & Springer, 2010).”

“Youth in two-parent families are similarly advantaged (Amato, 2010).”

“Taken together, these results suggest that, although people who separate from their partner are at risk for a variety of negative outcomes (Amato, 2010), this effect does not hold for everyone, particularly women in the lowest quality marriages.”

“For example, though divorced men and women generally report lower adjustment than their married counterparts (for an overview, see Amato 2010), the presence of a new romantic partner has been shown to be positively correlated with adult well-being (e.g., Wang and Amato 2000).”

“…life today, including but not limited to the changing nature of divorce and diversity in the character of stepfamily formation and arrangement (Amato, 2010), women’s increased labor force participation (Bianchi & Milkie, 2010), and the rise in the incidence of grandparents raising…”

“Finally, while the stigma faced by divorcees has declined [2, 46], divorced parents still have to face social stigma and ambivalence about their status [63, 123].”

“We also include other known correlates of marital problems and dissolution, namely, age at marriage, gender, and whether the couple lived together before marrying (Amato, 2010), and two other potentially relevant factors, problem gambling and prior domestic violence convictions.”

“The severity and duration of the adaptation process depend on a variety of protective factors such as personal resources (Amato, 2010).”

“…in large part because of its negative consequences for adults, relationship dissolution is linked to a host of detrimental outcomes among offspring (Amato 2010), including behavioral problems (McLanahan, Tach, and Schneider 2013), reduced educational achievement and attainment (Kim 2011), and…”

“Although these studies do not specifically focus on adolescents in stepfamilies, these negative outcomes tend to be more prevalent in stepfamilies (Amato, 2010), and therefore an adolescent’s feelings of family belonging may be even more protective for those living in stepfamilies.”

“Individual variables Sweeney and Phillips (2004), using data from 1995, predict divorce using measures of race, age at marriage, education, and premarital fertility history, which are commonly associated with divorce outcomes (Amato 2010).”

“However, there is reason to expect that parent-child relationships in stepfamilies may play an even more important role in marital outcomes as divorce rates are higher when children from a previous union are brought into a home [14].”

“The three studies reviewed above provide only a small picture of the many individual differences that predict risk for poor outcomes following divorce (see Amato, 2010; Mason & Sbarra, 2012).”

“Cohabitation has grown dramatically (Fields & Casper, 2001), yet little research has compared the consequences of cohabitation dissolution to divorce (Amato, 2010; for exceptions see Avellar & Smock, 2005; Blekesaune, 2008).”

“Parental separation can affect economic investments in children due to direct divorce costs, the loss of combined household scale advantages, and the redirection of resources towards new family members (Amato, 2010).”

“Amato (2010) points out that the doubling of risk experienced by children from divorced families is comparable to the increased risk of having a heart attack that is conferred by elevated cholesterol (i.e., 7% of those with high cholesterol will experience a heart attack as compared to 4% of those…”

“In fact, the United States has the highest remarriage rate in the world—indicating the relative importance of marital relationships to most Americans (Amato, 2010; Smock, 2000; Sweeney, 2010; U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).”

“Religious affiliation and attendance contribute to couples’ well-being, and support and foster marital relationships [51,52].”

“Several good reasons exist for assuming that the number of parents in a household affects children’s academic achievement (for reviews, see Amato, 2010; Brown, 2010; McLanahan and Percheski, 2008).”

“Overall, research supports that divorce lowers women’s economic and subjective well-being across countries—at least in the short–term—but the size and duration of these effects varies (Stack and Eshleman, 1998; Amato, 2000; Diener et al., 2000; Uunk, 2004; Andreß et al., 2006; Amato, 2010; Kalmijn, 2010; Andreß and Br…”

“The relationship stability of marriage and cohabitation has been studied extensively among different-sex couples (Amato 2010; Manning and Cohen 2012; Teachman 2002).”

“Amato and Gilbreth (1999) show in a meta-analysis that children of divorce have higher well-being if absent fathers pay more child support.”

“Becoming divorced or widowed may worsen negative wellbeing (especially in the short-term) but enhance aspects of positive wellbeing, given the opportunities for personal growth that stressful life events can present (e.g., Amato, 2010; Updegraff & Taylor, 2000; Waite et al., 2009).”

“Although most adults manage the transition of divorce well and can be described as resilient (Amato, 2010; Hetherington & Kelly, 2002; Mancini, Bonanno, & Clark, 2011), a subset of people become stuck on trajectories of long-term stress and strain (Lorenz, Wickrama, Conger, & Elder, 2006; Lucas, 2005).”

“…well-being of children who are not living with their two biological parents due to separation, divorce, or nonmarital/noncohabiting childbirth (Amato, 2010; Cherlin, 2009; Emery, 1999; McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994), yet very little research has examined the living arrangements and well-being of…”

“We explore gender differences as marital dissolution often has different consequences for women and men (Amato 2010; Umberson et al. 2013) and the unbalanced sex ratio at older ages yields unique repartnering environments for women and men (Schimmele and Wu 2016).”

“Not surprisingly, domestic violence and frequent conflicts are, together with infidelity, the most important reasons for divorce (Amato, 2010).”

“Most children demonstrate resiliency; fall into normal ranges for psychological and cognitive functioning; and grow up to be healthy, functioning adults (Ahrons, 2007; Amato, 2010; Emery, 1999).”

“Divorce is a major life stressor that may cause at least short-term mental distress, in part due to the emotional and financial burdens associated with divorce (Amato, 2010; Hald et al., 2020).”

“Summarizing this literature, Amato (2010) suggested that the mixed evidence results from women’s income having offsetting effects on marital stability: decreasing stability by upsetting the traditional division of household labor and increasing stability by reducing economic hardship.”

“The relative advantage of children in two-parent families in well-being is associated more with stable unions, especially of two biological parents [46,47].”

“Marriage is a profound decision with significant implications for future development (Amato, 2010; Amato et al., 2008; Gerstel, 1987; Shulman & Connolly, 2013; Steiner, Suarez, Sells, & Wykes, 2011).”

“What factors maintain long-lasting marriages through ups and downs? The rate of divorce in the United States is estimated to be around 50% (Amato, 2010), and the negative consequences of divorce for individuals and their families are well documented (Burt, Barnes, McGue, & Iacono, 2008).”