The effect of parental divorce on the health of adult children

Authors

  • Jason R Thomas Department of Sociology & Criminology The Pennsylvania State Univeristy
  • Robin S Högnäs Department of Sociology University of Louisville

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v6i3.267

Keywords:

parental divorce, self-rated health, life course

Abstract

Decades of research have produced evidence that parental divorce is negatively associated with offspring outcomes from early childhood, through adolescence, and into the adult years. This study adds to the literature on the effects of parental divorce by examining how the timing of a parental divorce influences the total effect on adult health.  Furthermore, we look at how this long-term effect of parental divorce depends on mediators such as the family’s socioeconomic status, parental involvement, cognitive test scores, behavioural problems, smoking, and the offspring’s own experience with divorce.  The analyses use data from the National Child Development Study, which includes nine waves of data beginning at birth in 1958 and continuing through age 50.  Results from a structural equation model suggest that a parental divorce experienced before age seven does influence adult health by operating primarily through family socioeconomic status and smoking in adulthood.

Downloads

Published

2015-06-25

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 3 (2015): Longitudinal and Life Course Studies

Section

Papers

License

Authors who published with Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Volumes 1–9 agreed to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work, simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Following first publication in this Journal, Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal, provided always that no charge is made for its use.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.