Explaining the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce

TLDR

The study examines how parental divorce predicts offspring divorce using national longitudinal U.S. data. Data come from the Study of Marriage Over the Life Course. Parental divorce raises offspring divorce risk, largely through offspring interpersonal behavior problems that disrupt intimate relationships, with modest mediation by age at marriage, cohabitation, socioeconomic attainment, and prodivorce attitudes.

Abstract

This study uses national longitudinal [U.S.] data to explain the intergenerational transmission of divorce. Parental divorce is associated with an increased risk of offspring divorce especially when wives or both spouses have experienced the dissolution of their parents marriage. Offspring age at marriage cohabitation socioeconomic attainment and prodivorce attitudes mediate modest proportions of the estimated effect of parental divorce. In contrast a measure of interpersonal behavior problems mediates the largest share of the association. The findings suggest that parental divorce elevates the risk of offspring divorce by increasing the likelihood that offspring exhibit behaviors that interfere with the maintenance of mutually rewarding intimate relationships. Data are from the Study of Marriage Over the Life Course. (EXCERPT)