Divorce Statistics and Studies Blog

"Bad Divorces" better for kids in long run? -- Two major studies by Amato, Glenn, Marquardt

"Nasty Divorces’ Silver Lining?"

By Beverly Willett  in The Daily Beast, May 19, 2012

 

Divorce hurts kids' math, social skills long-term, but not reading

Children of Divorce Struggle More With Math and Social Skills — TIME Healthland.

Via Randy Kessler and Steve Worrall.

"According to new research published Thursday in the American Sociological Review. children whose parents divorce perform worse in math and have poorer social skills, and they struggle more with anxiety, loneliness, sadness, and poor self-esteem than their peers whose parents are not divorced. They are also more likely to have trouble making friends and maintaining those friendships, expressing emotions positively, and getting along with other kids who are different from them."

The study, also reported in USA Today, tracked children from kindergarten through 5th grade and focused on those whose parents divorced between 1st and 3rd grade. The USA Today story points out that problems did not show up in school before the divorce process began -- it was not the bad marriage, but the divorce itself and perhaps post-divorce developments, that correlated with the problems.

Suicidal Ideation Much Higher for Children of Divorce

 Parental divorce linked to suicidal thoughts -- By Joyann Callender -- January 19, 2011

Adult children of divorce are more likely to have seriously considered suicide than their peers from intact families, suggests new research from the University of Toronto. In a paper published online this week in the journal Psychiatry Research, investigators examined gender specific differences among a sample of 6,647 adults, of whom 695 had experienced parental divorce before the age of 18. The study found that men from divorced families had more than three times the odds of suicidal ideation in comparison with men whose parents had not divorced. Adult daughters of divorce had 83 per cent higher odds of suicidal ideation than their female peers who had not experienced parental divorce.

Full article here  -- by way of Smart Marriages

 

Children of divorce take more Ritalin

For once, instead of just getting a bunch of newspaper articles which, if we're lucky, name the journal or the university where the author works, we're able to link straight to the actual study on the first try. It's Prevalence of methylphenidate use among Canadian children following parental divorce -- Strohschein 176 (12): 1711 -- Canadian Medical Association Journal. (June 5, 2007).

Changing father figures worsens kids' behavior

Mom's multiple partners disruptive to kids
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY, March 29, 2007
White children are more likely than black children to act out if their
mothers have multiple live-in lovers, an analysis by researchers at Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore shows.
The report, published in the upcoming April issue of the American
Sociological Review, found a connection between such family changes and
behavior problems, but only in white children.

Additional info on effects and correlates of divorce

To get complete information and citations, you should also review the Divorce Statistics Collection’s page on your topic:
Correlations with Other Factors: Age | Alcoholic parents | Children of Divorce Getting Divorced
| Cohabitation | Current Events| Gender of Children | Laws |   Marriage education programs | Occupation | Poverty | Race | Region | Religion |  Smoking | Unrealistic Expectations 
Effects on Society: Domestic Violence | Social-Economic-Taxpayer Costs | Effects on Black Community
Effects on Divorced People: Domestic Violence | Economic | Happiness | Physical and Mental Health
Effects on Children: Generally | Child Abuse | Poverty | Crime | Crime | Physical Health | Mental Health/Behavioral | Social Skills/Adjustment | Suicide | Teen & single parenthood | Exposure to family conflict | Stepfamilies | African American Children
Other:  Summary of Our Findings So Far| Causes of individual divorces