42
have more emotional problems
283
and negative feelings
284
and less psychological
well-being
285
than adults than those from intact families.
Upon the divorce of their parents, children experience a wide range of emotional
reactions, including sadness,
286
anger,
287
loneliness,
288
depression,
289
heightened
anxiety,
290
worry, lower life satisfaction,
291
lower self-esteem
292
and self-
confidence,
293
fear, yearning, rejection, conflicting loyalties, and a sense of fault
for their parents’ problems.
294
An analysis by David Popenoe of the National
283
Andrew J. Cherlin, P. Lindsday Chase-Lansdale, and Christine McRae, “Effects of Parental
Divorce on Mental Health throughout the Life Course,” American Sociological Review 63
(1998): 245-247.
284
Fridrik H. Jónsson, Urdur Njardvik, Gudlaug Ólafsdóttir, and Sigurdur J. Grétarsson,
“Parental Divorce: Long-term Effects on Mental Health, Family Relations, and Adult Sexual
Behavior,” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 41 (2000): 102.
285
Paul R. Amato, “Reconciling Divergent Perspectives: Judith Wallerstein, Quantitative Family
Research,” Family Relations 52 (2003): 338.
286
Paul R. Amato and Juliana M. Sobolewski, “The Effects of Divorce and Marital Discord on
Adult Children’s Psychological Well-being,” American Sociological Review 66 (2001): 917.
287
Judith S. Wallerstein and Joan Berlin Kelly, Surviving the Breakup: How Children and Parents
Cope With Divorce (1980; repr., New York, NY: Basic Books, 1996). Citations are from the
1996 edition.
288
Randy M. Page, “Adolescent Loneliness: A Priority for School Health Education,” Health
Education Quarterly 15 (1988): 20-23.
Nazmiye Çivitci, Asim Çivitci, and N. Ceren Fiyakali, “Loneliness and Life Satisfactions in
Adolescents with Divorced and Non-Divorced Parents,” Educational Sciences: Theory and
Practice 9 (2009): 518.
289
Hillevi M. Aro and Ulla K. Palosaari, “Parental Divorce, Adolescence, and Transition to Young
Adulthood: A Follow-Up Study,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 62 (1992): 421.
Ronald L. Simons, Kuei-Hsiu Lin, Leslie C. Gordon, Rand D. Conger, and Frederick O. Lorenz,
“Explaining the Higher Incidence of Adjustment Problems Among Children of Divorce
Compared with Those in Two-Parent Families,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 61 (1999):
1030.
Catherine E. Ross and John Mirowsky, “Parental Divorce, Life-Course Disruption, and Adult
Depression,” Journal of Marriage and Family 61 (1999): 1044.
Lisa Strohschein, “Parental Divorce and Child Mental Health Trajectories,” Journal of Marriage
and Family 67 (2005): 1286, 1292.
290
Lisa Strohschein, “Parental Divorce and Child Mental Health Trajectories,” Journal of
Marriage and Family 67 (2005): 1292.
291
Nazmiye Çivitci, Asim Çivitci, and N. Ceren Fiyakali, “Loneliness and Life Satisfactions in
Adolescents with Divorced and Non-Divorced Parents,” Educational Sciences: Theory and
Practice 9 (2009): 518.
292
Paul R. Amato and Juliana M. Sobolewski, “The Effects of Divorce and Marital Discord on
Adult Children’s Psychological Well-being,” American Sociological Review, 66 (2001): 917.
Paul R. Amato, “Children of Divorce in the 1990s: An Update of the Amato and Keith (1991)
Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Family Psychology, 15 (2001): 366.
293
Michael Workman and John Beer, “Aggression, Alcohol Dependency, and Self-consciousness
among High School Students of Divorced and Non-divorced Parents,” Psychological Reports 71
(1992): 279-286.
294
Berthold Berg and Lawrence A. Kurdek, “Children’s Beliefs about Parental Divorce Scale:
Psychometric Characteristics and Concurrent Validity,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology 55 (1987): 716.