How marital dissolution affects children: Variations by age and sex.

This study estimated the effects of a marital dissolution on several measures of children's well-being at two points in time using a nationally representative sample of 1,197 children. On the basis of reports from parents, teachers, and the children themselves, the outcome measures tap aspects of problem behavior, psychological distress, and academic performance. Regression estimates suggest that marital dissolution has pervasive and long-lasting effects in all three areas. In magnitude, the effects are slightly smaller than sex differences but larger than those for many other demographic variables. There is no evidence that dissolution effects are larger for boys than for girls. In fact, those differences that are significant show larger effects for girls. There is, however, evidence that effects are larger for children who are very young at the time of the dissolution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)