The Life Course of Children of Divorce: Marital Disruption and Parental Contact

TLDR

The study examines the incidence of marital disruption among U.S. children aged 11‑16, the living arrangements that follow, and the amount of contact with the outside parent, using a preliminary analysis of nationally representative 1981 data. The analysis reveals large racial disparities: black children were 1.5 times more likely to experience marital disruption, yet only 12.5% entered stepfamilies within five years compared to 57% of white children, and only 17% of disrupted families maintained frequent contact with the outside parent, with child support, proximity, and time since separation being the key determinants.

Abstract

In a preliminary analysis of data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. children aged 11 to 16 in 1981, the authors examine (1) the incidence of marital disruption in children's lives; (2) the type of living arrangements children experience following a disruption; and (3) the amount of contact children maintain with the outside parent. The analysis reveals large racial differences in both the incidence and aftermath of disruption. Blacks were one-and-a-half times as likely as whites to have undergone a disruption by early adolescence; within five years of a disruption, however, only one out of eight black children, compared with four out of seven white children, were in a stepfamily. Frequent contact with the outside parent (an average of at least once a weekfor the past year) occurred in only 17 percent of the disrupted families irrespective of race. Provision of child support, residential propinquity of the outside parent, and the length of time since separation occurred were the most important factors in accounting for amount of contact between the outside parent and the child.