Marital Discord, Divorce, and Children's Well-Being: Results from a 20-Year Longitudinal Study of Two Generations

Abstract

Studies consistently show that chronic discord between parents is a risk factor for a variety of child problems, including poor emotional adjustment, low self-esteem, aggression in peer relationships, and delinquency (Davies & Cummings, 1994; Emery, 1999). In most of these studies researchers have observed children during middle childhood or adolescence. Few studies have traced the implications of marital conflict after children have reached adulthood. Several studies have shown that adults who recall frequent conflict between their parents while growing up also report a disproportionately large number of psychological and marital problems in their own lives (Adams, Bouckoms, & Streiner, 1982; Kessler & Magee, 1993; Overall, Henry, & Woodward 1974). Reliance on retrospective data, however, limits our confidence in these findings. Emotionally troubled individuals are primed to recall aversive events from childhood, including instances of conflict between parents. Because the same individuals report on events in their families of origin and their current level of well-being, common method variance is likely to inflate the magnitude of associations in these studies. Other studies show that parental divorce is associated with problematic outcomes in adulthood. Compared with adults who grew up with two continuously married parents, adults who experienced parental divorce complete fewer years of education (Amato & Keith, 1991; McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994), have weaker ties with parents (Zill, Morrison, & Coiro, 1993), experience more conflict in their own marriages (Tallman, Gray, Kullberg, & Henderson, 1999; Ross & Mirowsky, 1999), are more likely to see their own marriages end in divorce (Bumpass, Martin & Sweet 1991; Wolfinger 1999), and report less happiness with life and more symptoms of psychological distress (Cherlin, Chase-Lansdale, & McRae, 1998; Ross & Mirowsky, 1999).