Sociology, Department of
Date of this Version
February 2005
Abstract
We used data from the study of Marital Instability Over the Life Course to examine links between divorce in the grandparent generation and outcomes in the grandchild generation (N = 691). Divorce in the first generation (G1) was associated with lower education, more marital discord, weaker ties with mothers, and weaker ties with fathers in the third generation (G3). These associations were mediated by family characteristics in the middle generation (G2), including lower education, more marital discord, more divorce, and greater tension in early parent- child relationships. In supplementary analyses, we found no evidence that the estimated effects of divorce differed by offspring gender or became weaker over time. Our results suggest that divorce has consequences for subsequent generations, including individuals who were not yet born at the time of the original divorce.
Comments
Published in Journal of Marriage and Family 67:1 (February 2005), pp. 191–206; doi 10.1111/j.0022-2445.2005.00014.x Copyright © 2005 National Council on Family Relations; published by Blackwell/John Wiley. Used by permission. http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0022-2445