Divorce Research

A recent issue of AACC's Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal (1999, v. 2, 1) published a review of research on the effects of divorce by David & Susan Larsen and James Swyers. Cautious about inferring causation as every good researcher must be, they nonetheless agreed with University of Virginia sociologist Stephen Nock that

∙ "Divorce may be the number one unrecognized health problem in the United States."

This review of published research was comprehensive for both adults and for children - surveying the clinical, social, and demographic consequences of divorce in the United States. Following are some highlights of this ground-breaking review of the data on divorce.

∙ Nearly half of all marriages now end in divorce;

∙ and from 1970 to 1992, the number of divorced adults in America quadrupled.

∙ Remarriages after divorce tend to be unstable, break up more often, and end more quickly than do first-time marriages.

∙ Remarriages are 50% more likely to divorce in the first five years compared to first marriages.

∙ Morbidity studies-rates of particular diseases among distinct population groups-showed that divorced persons exhibited consistently higher rates of acute medical crises, chronic medical conditions, and highest physician use rates.

∙ Rates of psychiatric illness were highest for divorced persons vs. any other marital group. Men were affected the most.

∙ Clinical depression rates overall were highest among divorced women, but divorced men showed the highest rates among those who had not been previously depressed. Depression was most acute among those divorced who did not have consistent relations with their children, among ex-spouses who continued in on-going conflict, and among those who were socially isolated.

∙ Alcohol abuse and alcoholism affected divorced men at a rate 4.5 times higher than married men. Social isolation, depression, and suicidal struggles were all shown to contribute to the abuse of drugs.

∙ Women and children suffered most economically. Only half of the divorced men in America pay their full support responsibility; one-quarter make partial, inconsistent payment, and one-quarter pays nothing.

∙ Numerous longitudinal studies that have been following children over the past 20 years and more are showing a dark and difficult picture of divorced children, with long-term adverse effects lasting well into adulthood.

∙ One million American children experience divorce every year.

∙ Single parent families increased from 13% of the U.S. family population in 1970 to 31% in 1994

∙ 56% of divorced children had no contact whatsoever with their fathers in the first year after divorce, and 23% had no contact after five years.

∙ Divorced children had the deepest feelings of anger, fear, and rejection of any childhood group, and were three times as likely to receive professional help as kids from intact families.

∙ Suicide rates for teenage males increased 557% from 1946 to 1988. The single best predictor of teen suicide was parental divorce and living in a single parent household.

∙ Rates of depression, low self-esteem, drug and alcohol abuse, and juvenile delinquency were all significantly higher for children of divorce.

∙ Divorced children drop out of school at twice the rate of children from intact families. They were twice as likely to be suspended or expelled from school, and consistently showed lower test scores, lower grades, and more placement in special and remedial classes.

∙ Early sexual behavior was more frequent among divorced children.

∙ Divorced children were far more likely to cohabit and not marry.

Using an analogy to medicine and the FDA, the authors point out that physicians are required by law to inform patients if a drug has a major side effect in just 1% of cases. Shouldn't counselors, in line with our duty to informed consent, outline the myriad harms of divorce to those we counsel who are seeking one?

Divorce Views Among Counselors

From professor and author Don Browning (interviewed by Mark Yarhouse in our Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal), on results from his national research survey on religion and the family:

∙ "One surprise was that 55% [of therapists] did think family form made a difference [with child well-being]...

∙ a majority thought that the best form for a family with children was a working father and stay-at-home mother...

∙ This contrasts to the common understanding of what therapists stand for today.

∙ Another surprise was that specialized pastoral counselors were the least concerned of any professional to caution against divorce if there were children involved. We don't know exactly how to explain that.

∙ The most conservative group when confronting divorce were psychiatrists, and female psychiatrists were more conservative than males."