The long-term psychological consequences of parental divorce on young single adults

[摘要] English: The divorce rate in modern western society is steadily on the rise and has reached alarmingproportions. As divorce is a major disruption of the family unit and often occurs when children areat a young and vulnerable age, many researchers are concerned about the psychological impact thatdivorce has on these children, and have questioned how they are affected by this disruption in theirfamilies. Until recently, however, there has not been much research on how it influences them intheir own adulthood, particularly as they confront the specific developmental stages of lateadolescence and early adulthood and the psychological tasks involved in these stages.In light of this information, the present study focussed on the experiences of adult children ofdivorce in order to have a better understanding of their adjustment and the long-term effects ofdivorce. It examined how divorce affected their progression through Erickson's identity andintimacy stages, concentrating along several measures of adjustment including self-esteem, generallife satisfaction, attitudes towards marriage, love styles, and sexual attitudes and behaviour. It wassuggested that young adults from divorced homes would have lower self-esteem, less general lifesatisfaction,different love styles, and more liberal sexual attitudes and behaviour.The research sample comprised of 200 young adults from across South Africa who were randomlyselected, and volunteered to participate in this study. The divorce group consisted of 100 singleyoung adults from divorced parents, while the married group consisted of 100 single young adults[Tom married parents. The data was gathered by using a biographical questionnaire and five selfreportquestionnaires, and subjects who volunteered to participate completed the questionnaires,consisting of questions regarding biographical information, self-esteem, general life satisfaction,attitudes towards marriage, love styles and sexual attitudes and behaviour. The two groups werethen compared along these measures of adjustment. The Hotelling 'P-rest for independent groupswas used for this purpose and was done with the help of the BMOP P30-programme (Dixon, 1985).The results of this study indicated that there were significant differences across four of themeasures. It was indicated, that compared to young adults from married parents, young adults fromdivorced parents were significantly more negative in their attitudes towards marriage andsignificantly less altruistic (agapic love) in their love styles than young adults from marriedparents. Furthermore the results indicated that young adults from divorced parents weresignificantly more liberal in their sexual attitudes regarding petting and sexual intercourse thanyoung adults from married parents. There were also differences along several of the other measuresof adjustment, although they were not statistically significant. These differences indicated thatyoung adults from divorced parents had slightly lower self-esteem, slightly less general lifesatisfaction, different love styles, and slightly more liberal sexual behaviour compared to thosefrom married parents.The implications of this were that young adults from divorced homes faced certain challengesregarding identity and intimacy issues and had their own set of beliefs and expectations in intimaterelationships. It was suggested that practitioners working with young adults from divorced parentsidentify divorce-related processes obstructing or complicating their adjustment and development.Furthermore, it was suggested that they have an accurate and detailed understanding of youngadults' beliefs and behaviours regarding current relationships, as well as information regarding theevents and emotional climate surrounding the divorce. An understanding of the possible influenceof past events would also prove beneficial to young adults entering intimate relationships of theirown. It was especially important for young adults entering marriage to identify any assumptionsand expectations regarding marriage. It was suggested that they learn to assess these importantprocess dimensions and to utilise the available therapeutic interventions and programmes thatwould assist them in their own intimate relationships.

[发布机构] University of the Free State