Prediction of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in siblings of children with diabetes. A population-based study. The Childhood Diabetes in Finland Study Group

The relationship between parental divorce occurring during adolescence and young adult psychosocial adjustment was examined, as was the role of family process variables in clarifying this relationship. Participants were young Caucasian adults from divorced (n = 119) and married (n = 123) families. Assessments were conducted during adolescence and 6 years later during early adulthood. Young adults from married families reported more secure romantic attachments than those from divorced families; however, differences were not evident in other domains of psychosocial adjustment after demographic variables were controlled. Three family process variables (parent-adolescent relationship, interparental conflict, and maternal depressive symptoms) were examined as potential mediators and moderators of the association between parental divorce and young adult adjustment. No evidence supporting mediation or moderation was found; however, the parent-adolescent and parent-young adult relationships, particularly when the identified parent was the father, emerged as significant predictors of young adult psychosocial adjustment.     

Paths of influence of divorce on preschool children's psychosocial adjustment.

This study examined the direct and indirect influences of parental divorce on preschool children's psychosocial adjustment through its effect on maternal strain, family socioeconomic status, the quality of the family's interpersonal relationships, and mother–child interaction. Participants included 198 married (n?=?99) and divorced (n?=?99), predominantly White, lower- to middle-income families with preschool children. Analyses using structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate that family structure and processes in combination most strongly influenced child outcomes. Specifically, the effects of divorce on children's adjustment were mediated by maternal strain and the quality of mother–child interaction. The goodness-of-fit indices (.90 to .94), root mean square error of approximation index (.03), and nonsignificant chi-square (p?=?.12) indicated a good fit for the generated structural equation model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of maternal functioning and parenting skills in adolescent functioning following parental divorce.

While divorce has been associated with impaired child functioning, the mechanisms within the divorce process leading to such an outcome have rarely been examined. The following hypothesis was examined: Divorce is associated with poor parental adjustment or disrupts parenting behavior, or both, which leads to poor adolescent functioning. Subjects were 121 and 93 young adolescents from intact and recently divorced families, respectively, and their mothers and teachers. Mothers completed measures assessing parental conflict and depression, observers coded parenting skills during a mother–adolescent interaction, and teachers completed measures assessing adolescent functioning. Although the magnitude of differences was not large, analyses of variance indicated that the divorced sample was functioning poorer than the married sample on all measures except interparental conflict. Path analysis suggested that parental functioning and parenting skills play a role in adolescent functioning following divorce. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term impact of parental divorce on intimate relationship quality in adulthood and the mediating role of psychosocial resources.

The purpose of this 16-year prospective follow-up study was to investigate the association between parental divorce in childhood and intimate relationship quality in adulthood. The mediating role of psychosocial resources (parent-child relationships at 16 years, self-esteem and social support at 32 years) in this association was also studied. All 16 year olds of one Finnish city completed questionnaires at school and were followed up by postal questionnaires at 32 years of age (n = 1,471). Results showed that women and men from divorced families were more often divorced or separated at the age of 32 years than those from nondivorced families. However, parental divorce was associated with poorer intimate relationship quality only among women. Women from divorced families also had poorer relationships with their father and mother in adolescence, and they had lower self-esteem and satisfaction with social support in adulthood than women from intact families. No such associations were found among men. The impact of parental divorce on intimate relationship quality among women was partially mediated by mother-daughter relationship, self-esteem, and satisfaction with social support. The mediating role of mother-daughter relationship was not direct, however, but was mediated via self-esteem and satisfaction with social support. Our findings indicate that parental divorce affects daughters more than sons. In the context of parental divorce, the mother-daughter relationship in adolescence is important for the development of later psychosocial resources and, via them, for intimate relationship quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental divorce: Effects on individual behavior and longevity.

Using an archival prospective design, the authors studied associations among parental divorce occurring during participants' childhood, adult psychosocial mediators, and mortality over the life span of a subgroup of participants (N?=?1,261) in the Terman Life Cycle Study (1921–1991). Children from divorced families grew up to show a higher risk of premature mortality across the life span. The higher mortality risk for men was explained, in part, when 3 mediating factors were controlled: Men who had experienced parental divorce were more likely to have their own marriages end in divorce, obtained less education, and engaged in fewer service activities. Women who had experienced parental divorce smoked more and were more likely themselves to divorce, both of which predicted higher mortality risk. The findings extend previous work on the negative sequelae of parental divorce to long-term effects on personality and longevity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparisons of adult children of alcoholic, divorced, and control parents in four outcome domains.

This study evaluated potential differences among 82 adult children of paternal alcoholics, 80 adult children of divorced parents, and 82 controls. Participants completed questionnaires assessing psychosocial functioning, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, alcohol use, and early family environment. After controlling for stressors often associated with alcoholic families, the authors found no group differences on current outcome measures. However, there were group differences on measures of early family environment. Children of alcoholics reported less father warmth than children of divorce or controls, and children of alcoholic and divorced parents reported more parental conflict than did controls. Post hoc analyses revealed that these early family environment variables were associated with participants' current psychosocial functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continued high or reduced interparental conflict following divorce: Relation to young adolescent adjustment.

Three groups of young adolescent subjects were compared on several measures of adjustment in the school setting. The three groups of subjects included (a) a group from recently divorced families in which high levels of interparental conflict prior to parental separation and after the divorce had been reported, (b) a group from recently divorced families in which high levels of interparental conflict prior to parental separation but low levels after the divorce had been reported, and (c) a comparison group from intact families. Adolescents from the first group were found to be functioning at a lower level than those from the other two groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of children of alcoholics: Predicting young adult substance use disorders, anxiety, and depression.

This study tested the specificity of parent alcoholism effects on young adult alcohol and drug abuse/dependence, anxiety, and depression, and tested whether adolescent symptomatology and substance use mediated parent alcoholism effects. Participants were from a longitudinal study in which a target child was assessed in adolescence and young adulthood with structured interview measures (N?=?454 families at Time 1). Results showed unique effects of parent alcoholism on young adult substance abuse/dependence diagnoses over and above the effects of other parental psychopathology. There was some evidence of parent alcoholism effects on young adult depression and of maternal alcoholism effects on young adult anxiety, although these were not found consistently across subsamples. Mediational models suggested that parent alcoholism effects could be partially (but not totally) explained by adolescent externalizing symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How can parents make a difference? Longitudinal associations with adolescent sexual behavior.

Parents have the potential to protect against adolescent sexual risk, including early sexual behavior, inconsistent condom use, and outcomes such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Identification of the specific parenting dimensions associated with sexual risk in adolescence and young adulthood is necessary to inform and focus prevention efforts. The current study examined the relation of proximal (e.g., discussions of sexual costs) and distal (e.g., parental involvement, relationship quality) parenting variables with concurrent and longitudinal adolescent sexual behavior. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) provided a nationally representative sample with information about the family using adolescent and parent informants. Longitudinal information about sexual risk included adolescent condom use and adolescent sexual initiation, as well as young adult unintended pregnancy, reports of STIs, and biological assay results for three STIs. Higher parent–adolescent relationship quality was associated with lower levels of adolescent unprotected intercourse and intercourse initiation. Better relationship quality was also associated with lower levels of young adult STIs, even when accounting for prior sexual activity. Unexpectedly, more parent reports of communication regarding the risks associated with sexual activity were negatively associated with condom use and greater likelihood of sexual initiation. These results demonstrate that parents play an important role, both positive and negative, in sexual behavior, which extends to young adulthood, and underscores the value of family interventions in sexual risk prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent family experiences and educational attainment during early adulthood.

In this study, the authors investigated the degree to which a family investment model would help account for the association between family of origin socioeconomic characteristics and the later educational attainment of 451 young adults (age 26) from 2-parent families. Parents' educational level, occupational prestige, and family income in 1989 each had a statistically significant direct relationship with youths' educational attainment in 2002. Consistent with the theoretical model guiding the study, parents' educational level and family income also demonstrated statistically significant indirect effects on later educational attainment through their associations with growth trajectories for supportive parenting, sibling relations, and adolescent academic engagement. Supportive parenting and sibling relations were linked to later educational attainment through their association with adolescent academic engagement. Academic engagement during adolescence was associated with educational attainment in young adulthood. These basic processes operated similarly regardless of youths' gender, target youths' age relative to a near-age sibling, gender composition of the sibling dyad, or gender of parent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental divorce, parent–child bonds, and adult attachment orientations among college students: A comparison of three racial/ethnic groups.

Despite evidence indicating that race/ethnicity and parental divorce may respectively affect perceptions of family and other intimate relationships, the conjoint influences of these sociodemographic variables on self-reports of both early (parent–child) and current (intimate adult) attachment relationships have not been investigated. In the present study, the authors examined (a) the contributions of parental marital status and race/ethnicity to scores on these measures and (b) the relative abilities of parental bonds to predict adult attachment orientations among students from different family backgrounds (i.e., intact and divorced) and from different racial/ethnic groups (i.e., White, Black, and Hispanic/Latino). Results indicated that race/ethnicity and parents' marital status had significant effects on the attachment measures, and that the extent to which parental bonds predicted adult attachment orientations varied among students with different family backgrounds and race/ethnicity. Implications of these findings to the conceptualization of college students' psychosocial development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information-Processing Biases in Young Adults From Bereaved and Divorced Families.

Parental loss or divorce is associated with increased risk for affective disorders, potentially because of dysfunctional information processing. This study evaluated attentional biases to threat or loss-related cues in young adults from divorced, parental-loss, or intact families. Participants from intact families showed avoidance of supraliminal threat and loss cues, whereas those from divorced families showed vigilance toward loss cues. Those from bereaved families showed no pattern of bias. Abuse and poor family relationships were associated independently with vigilance toward negative cues. After controlling for abuse, group differences in threat bias were no longer apparent. Results suggest that parental death or divorce may increase risk of affective disorder owing to the loss of a "protective bias" away from negative stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term effects of divorce on parent–child relationships.

100 introductory psychology students from families that had experienced divorce 7 or more years previously and 141 introductory psychology students from continuously intact families completed a series of self-report questionnaires assessing their perceptions of their relationship with their parents. Findings indicate that although there was considerable variation from person to person, Ss from divorced families perceived their relationships with their parents, and particularly their fathers, less positively than those from intact families. It was also found that these potentially negative consequences of divorce were attenuated by Ss' recall of a healthy predivorce family life, by a more successful adjustment on the part of the child before the divorce, and by a higher quality relationship between the ex-spouses after the divorce. Results support the notion that active involvement on the part of the father and added stresses placed on the mother after the divorce are the critical determinants of the perceived quality of the current parent–child relationships. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distress among young adults from divorced families.

Researchers find that most children from divorced families function normally, but some clinicians assert that young people are disturbed even many years after a divorce. These accounts may be less discrepant than they appear, because research typically focuses on notably problematic behavior (disorder), whereas case studies emphasize more subtle inner turmoil (distress). In Study 1 college students reported painful feelings, beliefs, and memories about their parents divorce on a reliable new measure, but they also reported accepting the divorce and having few psychological symptoms. Distress about family life was greater among students from divorced than from married families. Study 2 replicated these findings in a community sample of young people from low-income divorced families. In both studies, greater distress was associated with children's residence, frequency of contact with fathers, interparental conflict, and psychological symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial functioning of adults who experienced substance use disorders as adolescents.

The authors examined whether substance use disorder (SUD) before age 19 was associated with functioning at age 30. Participants (N = 773) were assessed twice during adolescence and at ages 24 and 30. Eight of 14 adult measures were associated with adolescent SUD: education, unemployment, income, risky sexual behavior, suicide attempt, coping, stressful life events, and global adjustment. After adolescent comorbidity and functioning and adult SUD were controlled for, education and unemployment remained associated, and three variables emerged as significant: being a parent (significant only for participants without adult SUD), being currently married, and having decreased life satisfaction (significant only for participants with adult SUD). Adolescent SUD is associated with numerous functioning difficulties at age 30, some of which appear to be related to recurrent SUD, comorbid adolescent disorders, or functioning problems already evident in adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An overview of the Virginia Longitudinal Study of Divorce and Remarriage with a focus on early adolescence.

A brief summary of selected results from the Virginia Longitudinal Study of Divorce and Remarriage was presented, with a focus on findings when the children were in their early adolescent years. The early adolescent years are of particular interest in the study of the effects of parents' marital transitions on children because, at this time, problems in adjustment may emerge or intensify in children in divorced or remarried families. Furthermore, early adolescence is a time in which there is likely to be the greatest difficulty in adaptation to a new remarriage. A developmental contextual model was used to examine some of the risk, vulnerability, and protective factors associated with diverse patterns of coping with divorce and remarriage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family therapy issues with adolescents in divorced families.

Discusses the research literature on adolescent adjustment to divorce and its application to family therapy. This literature covers such topics as the developmental issues that an adolescent is facing during and after the divorce, the possible impact of specific custody arrangements, the array of treatment issues for this population, and the development of specific structural and dynamic treatment goals. Psychosocially, teenagers are in the stage of identity vs role confusion. The developmental conflict is intensified in a divorce situation where questions of identity are echoed in the family constellation. Possible goals of family therapy with teens in divorced families included good family management, adequate communication and conflict resolution strategies within and between each unit, equitable visitation, and protection of each member from verbal or physical abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family functioning and parental smoking as predictors of adolescent cigarette use: A six-year prospective study.

The goal of this study was to determine how family functioning influences the onset of adolescent cigarette smoking and how family functioning and parental smoking together influence adolescent smoking. A 6-year prospective design was used to follow a group of 508 families with a child aged 11–13 years. Predictor measures were parents" smoking status at Time 1, parents" scores on scales measuring family cohesion and parent–adolescent strain, and adolescents" scores on 3 scales measuring psychological adjustment. Results showed that poorer family functioning predicted subsequent adolescent smoking, independent of other measured factors. The strongest predictions were yielded by the combination of low family cohesion and parental smoking, with early adolescents who had a parent who smoked and low family cohesion reporting more than twice the rate of smoking in late adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lien entre la qualité des relations familiales et sociales à l'adolescence et à l'age adulte.

Fifty-seven families with adolescent children participated in a study of a) the quality of family and friendship relationships in adolescence, and b) the quality of family, friendship, and romantic relationships of adolescents 7 years later. Observation measures and self-report questionnaires were used to examine the variables. Regression analyses showed that mothers' marital satisfaction, conjugal conflict, and quality of mother-daughter relationship in adolescence predicted daughters' satisfaction with romantic relationships in adulthood. However, only the parental variables during adolescence predicted the quality of friendship relationships in adulthood. This study highlighted the contribution that quality of family relationships in adolescence makes to the quality of interpersonal relationships in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family functioning and adolescent alcohol use disorders.

Adolescents with alcohol dependence or abuse (n?=?126) were compared with 124 adolescents with other (nondrug) mental disorders and with a control group of 94 adolescents with no mental disorders on dimensions of family functioning. General family functioning, mother–adolescent relationships, and parental monitoring and discipline practices were assessed by using both adolescent and mother reports. Although overall the groups differed significantly on all family variables, the relationships among groups differed for adolescent and mother reports. By mother reports, families of adolescents with alcohol use disorders functioned less well than did families of adolescents with other mental disorders, whereas by adolescent reports these groups were not significantly different. Examination of both adolescent and mother perspectives may be important in understanding the relationship between family functioning and adolescent alcohol use disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)