Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 52:344349, 2011 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1050-2556 print/1540-4811

1 online DOI: 10.1080/10502556.2011.585093

The Effects of Divorce on Children: Married and Divorced Parents Perspectives

MICHELLE MOON
Department of Psychology, California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, California, USA

Three hypotheses, derived from the social psychology literature, regarding the impact of marital status history on parents attitudes toward the impact of divorce on children were examined. Married parents ( n = 118) were expected to report more negative effects of divorce on children than divorced parents ( n = 114); mothers and fathers whose own parents remained married were expected to rate the impact of divorce more negatively than mothers and fathers whose parents had divorced; and, divorced parents who initiated their own divorce were expected to report fewer negative effects of divorce on children than parents who did not initiate divorce. All three hypotheses were supported, extending the selfand vested-interest research to the divorce literature. KEYWORDS divorce, effects, self-interest

Much of the divorce literature indicates that children from intact, never divorced families exhibit fewer behavioral problems and evidence greater psychological adjustment than children from divorced or remarried families (Ahrons, 2004; Hetherington, Bridges, & Insabella, 1998; Kelly & Lamb 2000). Yet, as Hetherington et al. maintain, there is little agreement about the extent, severity, and duration of these problems because there is great diversity in childrens responses to parental marital transitions (p. 168). Conicting ndings and misleading conclusions derive, as well, from the use of different samples, methodologies, and data analytic approaches utilized (Amato, 1994; Hetherington et al.; Kushner, 2009). Herein, the impact of a persons vested interests has been shown to inuence their perception,
Address correspondence to Michelle Moon, Associate Professor, Psychology, Clinical Psychologist, PSY 21601, California State University Channel Islands, One University Drive, Camarillo, CA 930128599, USA. E-mail: michelle.moon@csuci.edu 344

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and this might well be the case when examining the impact of divorce on children. In fact, research in the social psychology literature has indicated that self-interests can be powerful motivational forces in the formation of attitudes (Sears, 1997) and these beliefs can inuence an investigations ndings, as in the impact of child care (Moon, 2002), commuting (Abrahamse, Steg, Gifford, & Vlek, 2009), public policy (Lau & Heldman, 2009), and war (Bergan, 2009), as well as in a number of other domains. When a person is personally involved (i.e., self-interested) he or she is a motivated tactician and his or her ego involvement has strong effects on personal perceptions and beliefs (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). An individual motivated to reach a conclusion relies on beliefs and strategies of reasoning that are most likely to obtain a preferred conclusion (Kunda, 1990). When an individual perceives signicant consequence to himself or herself, that person is seen as having a self-interest, which will be related to his or her attitude-relevant behavior and to strongly inuence the consistency between attitudes and actions (see Crano, 1997). Derived from the social psychology literature, this study examined how self- and vested interests might affect perceptions of the effects of divorce on children. The primary hypothesis was that self-interest, a powerful motivational force in the formation of ones attitudes (Sears, 1997), will differentially inuence divorced and married persons views of the impact of divorce on children. Based on this perspective, it was anticipated that still married parents would view divorce as having a more negative inuence on children than would divorced parents. Furthermore, by extension, it was expected that mothers and fathers whose own parents had remained married would view the impact of divorce more negatively than mothers and fathers whose parents divorced before participants parents had left home (before they turned 18). Finally, it was anticipated that divorced parents who reported that they had initiated the divorce process would assess the impact of divorce less negatively than whose ex-spouse had initiated the divorce process.

METHOD
Participants consisted of married mother (n = 70), father (n = 48), and divorced mother (n = 57) and father (n = 57) volunteers, each with at least one child younger than 18 years old. Participants were solicited from two local universities, a community college, community organizations (e.g., churches), and a variety of businesses. Participants (2167 years of age, M = 40 years old, SD = 11.14) indicated they were African American (n = 23), Asian American (n = 8), Caucasian (n = 133), Hispanic/Latino (n = 54), Native American (n = 4), and other (n = 10). Hollingshead (1977) occupational scales were used to classify the occupations reported by 186 (80.17%) of the 232 participants; 23% of those responding to this

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item were classied in semiskilled, unskilled, or menial service categories (scores 13); 54% were classied as small business owners, clerical or sales workers, technicians or semiprofessional categories (scores 46); and 23% were in the minor professional and higher occupational categories (scores 79). The analyses of demographic characteristics indicated no signicant differences between the married and divorced groups. All participants were treated in accordance with the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological Association, 1992). Parents completed a demographic instrument and reported their marital status, their parents marital status, and, if divorced who initiated the divorce (self, spouse, or mutual). Participants also provided ratings on an 18-item questionnaire designed to assess their views of the effects of parental divorce on children. Items for this Effects of Parent Divorce Scale were derived from the parenting and divorce literature. Participants responded to each item on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Higher scores were indicative of more negative perceptions of the effects of divorce on children. Of the items on this scale, seven were positively stated (e.g., Children from two-parent homes are more emotionally stable than children from single-parent homes). The remaining 11 items were negatively stated (e.g., Its better for a child to be raised by both of his or her parents than by a single parent; = .97).

RESULTS
A 2 2 2 three-factor between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA), for Participant Marital Status Participant Gender Participants Parents Marital Status was carried out to examine differences in mean scores obtained on the Effects of Parent Divorce Scale. The ndings indicated main effects for participant marital status, F (1, 193) = 20.37, p < .001, and for participants parents marital status, F (1, 193) = 7.23, p < .01. No effect for participant gender and no interactive effects were obtained. Table 1 indicates the means (and standard deviations) obtained for participant marital status by participants parents marital status groups. As indicated, participants who were married with parents who had remained married provided the highest mean score of any of the four groups (indicating more negative appraisals of the effects of divorce on children). In contrast, the mean for participants who were divorced and who reported that their parents were divorced provided the lowest mean score for the groups. To examine the impact of divorced participants reports of who had initiated divorce, a one-way ANOVA was carried out. This ANOVA examined differences in the means obtained for participants who reported that they (self; n = 34) or their spouse had (spouse; n = 29) initiated the divorce, or that the decision to divorce had been mutual (mutual; n = 18). The

The Effects of Divorce TABLE 1 Mean and Standard Deviations of Parental Divorce Scale Scores for Participant by Participants Parents Marital Status Participant marital status Parents marital status Married Divorced Total Married M 4.37 3.65 4.20 SD 1.05 1.40 1.18a M 3.38 3.04 3.27 Divorced SD 1.56 1.45 1.26a M 3.99 3.35 Total SD 1.19b 1.44b

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Note. Higher scores represent more negative ratings of the effects of divorce on children. Shared superscripts indicate signicant differences between respective means. a Participant marital status, p < .001. b Parents marital status, p < .01.

results of this analysis indicated a main effect, F (2, 80) = 3.80, p < .05. Self-participants rated the impact of divorce on children lower (M = 2.84, SD = 1.17) than did each of the other groups (spouse M = 3.61, SD = 1.24; mutual, M = 3.60, SD = 1.32; Tukey least signicant difference [LSD] for these respective comparisons, p < .05), which did not signicantly differ from one another.

DISCUSSION
The ndings support the hypothesis that the self-interests and personal experiences associated with marital status inuence perceptions of the effects of divorce on children. Regardless of gender, a parents marital or divorce history will inuence their ratings of the impact of divorce on children. Specically, married fathers and mothers evaluated the impact of divorce on their children more negatively than did divorced fathers and mothers. These ndings are consistent with the social psychology literature, and the need individuals have to reduce their cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957) is extended to the divorce literature. Mothers and fathers whose parents had remained married also reported the impact of divorce more negatively than those whose parents had divorced. Parents who initiated divorce reported the effects of divorce less negatively than those that did not initiate the divorce. The ndings reported here also have important clinical and applied implications. Future research investigating the effects of divorce on children should carefully examine parental reports, or the possibility of individuals family backgrounds while assessing the possibility of adverse effects. Importantly, the ndings suggest that divorce history and personal choices made in relation to a divorce are reected in parents perceptions. Beliefs regarding divorce based on personal experience are also consistent with

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the recent ndings by Miles and Servaty-Seib (2010), where young adults from divorced parents were found to have more positive views toward divorce than those from families of nondivorced parents. Given these ndings, parental biases need to be made clear to them by professionals when working with parents who might be considering a divorce, or, for that matter, a decision to remain married, in relation to what they might believe will be the impact of deciding to divorce, or to not divorce, on their childrens well-being. By extension, the impact of personal biases on court, custody, and other related decisional processes in a childs life postdivorce might well be affected by the personal divorce and family history of the persons asked to provide guidance or make judgments. The perspective of self- and vested interests is important and should be considered when custody evaluators, lawyers, and judges make decisions that impact children in the aftermath of divorce. Future research is needed to clarify these relationships. Certainly, objective approaches, that transcend the biases of observers or other motivated tacticians (Fiske & Taylor, 1991) to seek objective means of determining the factors that contribute to, or detract from, a childs wellbeing in the aftermath of divorce should be considered. As suggested by Fabricius (2003) and Sviggum (2000) the importance of child reports in research during the aftermath of divorce is highlighted with the ndings reported here. Childrens responses should be considered during the aftermath of divorce, and how well a child is functioning or not functioning should not be based on a parents need or self-interest to perceive fewer negative effects.

REFERENCES
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Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Hetherington, E. M., Bridges, M., & Insabella, G. (1998). What matters? What does not? Five perspectives on the association between marital transitions and childrens adjustment. American Psychologist , 53, 167183. Hollingshead, A. B. (1977). Four factor index of social status. Unpublished manuscript, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Kelly, J., & Lamb, M. (2000). Using child development research to make appropriate custody access and decisions for young children. Family & Conciliation Courts Review, 38 (3), 297311. Kunda, Z. (1990). The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108 , 480498. Kushner, M. A. (2009). A review of the empirical literature about child development and adjustment postseparation. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 50, 496516. Lau, R., & Heldman, C. (2009). Self-interest, symbolic attitudes, and support for public policy: A multilevel analysis. Political Psychology, 30(4), 513537. Miles, N. J., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2010). Parental marital status and young adult offsprings attitudes about marriage and divorce. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 51(4), 209220. Moon, M. (2002). Self interests and beliefs: Predictors of mothers views of child care. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32(11), 24132422. Sears, D. O. (1997). The impact of self-interest on attitudesA symbolic politics perspective on differences between survey and experimental ndings: Comment on Crano (1997). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 492496. Sviggum, G. (2000). How children view their parents divorce: Finding from a Norwegian Study. Family Matters, 55 , 6267.

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