Parental Divorce and Child Mental Health: Accounting for Predisruption Differences

Abstract

Although evidence shows that the effects of divorce can be observed in advance of the actual event, there remains ambiguity over which aspects of child mental health are affected and why. This study analyzed two waves of data from a national survey of Canadian children (N = 4,474) to compare depression, antisocial behavior, and hyperactivity at initial interview between children whose parents subsequently divorced and children whose parents remain married. Results confirmed significantly worse mental health problems among children whose parents later divorced. Differences were mostly attributable to greater socioeconomic disadvantage and more dysfunctional family processes among eventually divorcing households.