The Long Term Effects of The Long Term Effects of Parental Divorce on Mental Parental Divorce on Mental

Health of Young AdultsHealth of Young AdultsLindsay Chase-Lansdale, Andrew Cherlin and

Kathleen Kiernan

Journal of Child Development,

Volume 66, Issue 6 December 1995, Pages 1614-1634

Alison Brown

INTERESTING FACTS

•”Additionally, children have been found to portray more antisocial behavior, and have depression/anxiety after parents divorced compared to children who have parents that are still married “ (Strohschein, 2005).

•”It is believed that the divorce rate has been hovering at close to one half of all first marriages and 60% of second marriages, for the past several decades” (Wallerstein, 2005).

“Evidence shows that, according to Wallerstein (2005) children of divorce including those in their parent’s second marriages are three times as likely as children from intact families to be referred for psychological help by teachers”.

TheoryTheory

• Divorce has negative effects on mental health of young adults.

Hypothesis

• Parental divorce during childhood will have long term effects on mental health and differences between men and women.

Theoretical Construct I

• Adult Mental Health -Corresponding Operational Definition

- Malaise Inventory

Measures relationship between family stress and mental health. Examples: Depression, anxiety, phobias, and obsessions

• Coded (1)= Divorce (Included Separation) (2)= Not Divorced

●Measured on a 24 item questionnaire YES or NO Questionnaire

●A score above 7 “yes” indicates a high likelihood of a mental illness.

Theoretical Construct II

• School Achievement– Corresponding Operational Definition

Measured by Reading and Math achievement test (standardized exams)

-Overall school performance from teachers ( General GPA)

Construct cont…

• Group Reading Test– A reading achievement test involving

both word recognition and sentence completion.

•Mathematics Achievement Test- 10 item Questionnaire - Number of correctly answered questions

in a 10 question set

DESIGNDESIGN

Independent Variable I

• Gender-Qualitative

●Two Levels of Independent Variable I- Male- Female

Independent Variable II

• Divorce- Qualitative

• 2 Levels-Divorced, Not Divorced

Independent Variable III

• Age – Measure at 7, 11, 16, 23

Dependent Variable I

• Measure of Mental Health

• Survey consisted of 1,021 mothers and children.

• Longitudinal Study– Same group of subjects is repeatedly

tested over time.

• High test-retest reliability of .78

• At the age of 7, 11 and 16, interviews were conducted and information was obtained from the parents, head teachers, and the school health services.

• Personality was measured from interviews with the children, mothers and teachers.

RESULTSRESULTS

Result cont…

• Significant level of p<.01 for children between the ages of 11 and 16.

• Raised the Malaise Inventory score for divorce between the ages of 7 and 11 by 14%.

• 26% from ages 11-16.

More Results…

•Subjects who had parents divorce between the ages of 7 and 16 reported a 24% increase in their mental illness scores.

and more…• Subjects tested at age 7 who reported emotional problems

saw a 22% increase in dysfunctional health at the age of 23.

• Interaction with a significance of p<.0001

•Women reported a 66% higher score than Men. -Findings are consistent with literature on sex difference in adult emotional problems.

• Showing divorce has a stronger negative effect and was greater for women then men.

Graph of Parental Divorce and Malaise Inventory

DISCUSSIONDISCUSSION

• Yes indeed, divorce had negative consequences for both men and women.

• Malaise Inventory, validated in numerous other studies and also used for psychiatric assessment.

• Some overlap of ages

• Could have tested adults in current relationships

• Could have tested Fathers

• Used adequate ages gaps for measurement.

• I would agree with the authors findings