Going to extremes: family structure, children's well-being, and social science.

In this article I argue that public discussions of demographic issues are often conducted in a troubling pattern in which one extreme position is debated in relation to the opposite extreme. This pattern impedes our understanding of social problems and is a poor guide to sound public policies. To illustrate this thesis I use the case of social scientific research examining how children are affected by not living with two biological parents while they are growing up. Over the last decade, I maintain, most of the public, and even many social scientists, have been puzzled and poorly informed by this debate. In particular I consider Judith Wallerstein's clinically based claims of the pervasive, profound harm caused by divorce and, at the other extreme, Judith Rich Harris's reading of behavioral genetics and evolutionary psychology, which leads her to dismiss the direct effects of divorce. Neither extreme gives a clear picture of the consequences of growing up in a single-parent family or a stepfamily.

The long-term effects of parental divorce on the mental health of young adults: a developmental perspective.

The effects of parental divorce during childhood and adolescence on the mental health of young adults (age 23) were examined, using the National Child Development Study (NCDS), a longitudinal, multimethod, nationally representative survey of all children born in Great Britain during 1 week in 1958 (N = 17,414). Children were assessed at birth and subsequently followed up at ages 7, 11, 16, and 23 by means of maternal and child interviews, and by psychological, school, and medical assessments. Parental divorce had a moderate, long-term negative impact on adult mental health, as measured by the Malaise Inventory total score, and controlling for economic status, children's emotional problems, and school performance preceding marital dissolution. The likelihood of scoring above the clinical cutoff of the Malaise Inventory rose from 8% to 11% due to parental divorce. This indicated that the relative risk of serious emotional disorders increased in the aftermath of divorce, but that the large majority of individuals did not exhibit such risks. Path analyses revealed that the negative effects of divorce on adult mental health operated indirectly through higher emotional problems and lower levels of school achievement and family economic status at age 16. Results related to timing of divorce, remarriage, and interactions between age 7 emotional problems and divorce, and between age 7 emotional problems and child gender, are also discussed.

Parental divorce in childhood and demographic outcomes in young adulthood.

We investigated the long-term effects of parental divorce in childhood on demographic outcomes in young adulthood, using a British longitudinal national survey of children. Our analyses control for predisruption characteristics of the child and the family, including emotional problems, cognitive achievement, and socioeconomic status. The results show that by age 23, those whose parents divorced were more likely to leave home because of friction, to cohabit, and to have a child outside marriage than were those whose parents did not divorce. Young adults whose parents divorced, however, were no more or less likely to marry or to have a child in a marriage. Moreover, even in the divorced group, the great majority did not leave home because of friction or have a child outside marriage.

Longitudinal studies of effects of divorce on children in Great Britain and the United States.

National, longitudinal surveys from Great Britain and the United States were used to investigate the effects of divorce on children. In both studies, a subsample of children who were in two-parent families during the initial interview (at age 7 in the British data and at ages 7 to 11 in the U.S. data) were followed through the next interview (at age 11 and ages 11 to 16, respectively). At both time points in the British data, parents and teachers independently rated the children's behavior problems, and the children were given reading and mathematics achievement tests. At both time points in the U.S. data, parents rated the children's behavior problems. Children whose parents divorced or separated between the two time points were compared to children whose families remained intact. For boys, the apparent effect of separation or divorce on behavior problems and achievement at the later time point was sharply reduced by considering behavior problems, achievement levels, and family difficulties that were present at the earlier time point, before any of the families had broken up. For girls, the reduction in the apparent effect of divorce occurred to a lesser but still noticeable extent once preexisting conditions were considered.

The weakening link between marriage and the care of children.

Over the last 20 years, the proportion of births that occur to unmarried women has increased dramatically, children are now much more likely to experience the breakup of their parents' marriage, and a much greater proportion of children live at least part of their childhood with only one parent. These changes have occurred predominantly among nonwhites and low-income women and children, but have occurred among whites and higher income women as well. Since these changes have done well-documented damage to children's socioeconomic conditions and prospects, an important issue is whether we can improve children's well-being by strengthening the link between marriage and child care. For a number of reasons, however--cultural, political and economic--the role of public policy is limited. Nevertheless, stronger public support is possible for people who wish to marry or stay married, but who lack the resources to do so. In a nation like Japan, child care is left almost entirely to the family, while in Sweden, the state assumes much of the responsibility; the United States seems to occupy a sort of middle ground. It is likely that U.S. social policy will continue to rely on both the family and the state to care for dependent children, a strategy that implies a continuing tension between public acceptance of changes in family life and public sentiment for a return to older ways.

PIP: Over the last 20 years, the proportion of births that occur to unmarried women has increased dramatically. Children are now much more likely to experience the breakup of their parents' marriage, and a much greater proportion of children live at least part of their childhood with only 1 parent. These changes have occurred predominantly among nonwhites and low-income women and children, but have occurred among whites and higher income women as well. Since these changes have done well-documented damage to children's socioeconomic conditions and prospects, an important issue is whether their well-being can be improved by strengthening the link between marriage and child care. For a number of reasons, however, the role of public policy is limited. Nevertheless, stronger public support is possible for people who wish to marry or stay married, but who lack the resources to do so. In a nation like Japan, child care is left almost entirely to the family, while in Sweden, the state assumes much of the responsibility. The US occupies a sort of middle ground. It is likely that US social policy will continue to rely on both the family and the state to care for dependent children, a strategy that implies a continuing tension between public acceptance of changes in family life and public sentiment for a return to older ways.