Handbook of Divorce and Relationship Dissolution by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2022-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

17 Influence of Parental Divorce on Romantic Relationships in Young Adulthood: A Cognitive-Developmental Perspective

Denise S. Bartell University of Wisconsin–Green Bay

DOI: 10.4324/9781315820880-17

Why Examine the Effects of Parental Divorce on Romantic Relationships?

Parental divorce is a risk factor for romantic relationships in adulthood. By one estimate, the risk of divorce increases by almost 70% if the wife has experienced parental divorce and by almost 190% if both spouses have experienced parental divorce (Amato, 1996). Research also indicates that parental divorce is associated with more hesitancy toward commitment (Booth, Brinkerhoff, & White, 1984), lower trust in partners (Franklin, Janoff-Bulman, & Roberts, 1990), lower satisfaction in relationships (Ross & Mirowsky, 1999), poorer interpersonal skills (Amato, 1996), earlier involvement in relationships (Gabardi & Rosen, 1992), and greater acceptance of divorce (Kinnaird & Gerrard, 1986). A variety of potential divorce-related factors have been proposed to explain these findings, ranging from the socioeconomic decline that often accompanies parental divorce, to negative changes in parent–child relationships, to the observation of one’s parents having a poor marital relationship, to the genetic transmission of problematic personality traits (Amato, 2000; Amato & Booth, 2001). However, we currently lack a broad conceptual model to identify which of these factors may be relevant or how they might exert an influence on romantic relationships. This chapter represents a preliminary attempt at the development of such a model. The cognitive-developmental model proposed here seeks to identify specific characteristics of parental divorce that are likely to exert an influence on romantic relationships and to propose a potential mechanism through which these characteristics exert an influence on romantic relationships. Before moving to the explication of the model, though, I first review in more detail the research introduced here.

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