Running Head: Can Divorce Have a Positive Impact on Children?

Can Divorce Have a Positive Impact on Children?

Katelyn Hakinson
Minnesota State University, Mankato
PSYC 103W Research Synthesis Paper

Author Note

Katelyn A. Hakinson, Department of Psychology, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Katelyn Hakinson,
Department of Psychology, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN 56001
Contact: [email protected]

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Abstract
Divorce rates continue to rise over the years and it is affecting 1 million children every
year in the United States. Most individuals and research focus on the negative effects of divorce
on children but there is sometimes a positive side to divorce. I decided to touch on this topic
because of its relation in my life at the moment. My parents are in the middle of a divorce and I
many questions have come to mind, especially if there are positive effects to my situation.
Through my research, I have synthesized five research articles in order to come up with answers
to my questions. Two of the articles: Longitudinal Studies of Effects of Divorce on Children in
Great Britain and the United States and Children and Divorce: The Childs view both
concentrated on the negative effects of divorce, while another article Positive Effects of Parental
Divorce on Undergraduates tries to draw out benefits to divorce. The last two articles, The
Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children and The Impact of Divorce on Children,
covered all bases on the topic and talked about how divorce is very situational. After putting the
sources together I came up with further questions to answer for the future.

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Can Divorce Have a Positive Impact on Children?
Since the middle of the 19th century, divorce rates have grown substantially. About 5% of
first marriages ended in divorce in the middle of the 19th century compared to about 50% of
marriages today in the United States (Amato, 2000). This change has been a result from factors
such as women being more economically independent, rising expectations of marriage, and the
social acceptance of divorce. The topic divorce has hit home because my parents are going
through a divorce right now and they have put it off for ten years. It has impacted my older
brother, younger sister, and I the whole time. I have gone back and forth on whether divorce will
make it easier or harder on my siblings and me. I also wonder what this means in the future for
us. Will it affect me emotionally, mentally, or physically? Everything I hear about divorce is
negative, however, I know the situation I am in has made me stronger and has impacted me
possibly for the better. So does that mean divorce can have a positive effect on children with
divorced parents?
Most research articles on divorce focus on the problems associated with it, none of the
possible benefits. There is no huge debate out there on whether divorce is a good or bad thing, it
has just been deemed as terrible. Articles often point out that children in divorced families face
increased rates in crime, teen pregnancy, high school dropouts, and mental illnesses; however,
they do not point out when divorce is actually a good situation for a child. For instance, a divorce
in an abuse household can lead to a safer environment, or a divorce where parents constantly
fighting can be less stressful on families.
In order to answer my questions about divorce and its effects on children, I found five
research articles that explained studies that were performed about the topic at hand. In the first
article Longitudinal Studies of Effects of Divorce on Children in Great Britain and the United

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States, researchers mainly concluded that divorce can have long-term effects on adult behavior
(Cherlin, Furstenberg, Chase-Lindale, Kiernan, Robins, Morrison, & Teitler, 1991). With the same
idea that divorce is only negative, Ann Hingsts article Children and Divorce: The Childs view,
focused on the desire for a relationship between the child and the father, along with the childs
view versus the mothers view, which were very different from each other (Hingst, 1981).
On the other hand, in the research article Positive Effects of Parental Divorce on
Undergraduates, researchers, Halligan, Chang, and Knox created a goal to find positive effect of
divorce. The article, The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children, by Paul Amato,
shows a little bit of all the sides, stating that people vary greatly in their reactions to divorce.
Some individuals benefit, some experience a brief setback, and others are sent into a downward
spiral that lead to no recovery (Amato, 2000). Similarly David Demo and Alan Acocks study
The Impact of Divorce on Children, also came to the conclusion that it is wrong to assume that
divorce is the same for all children and consequences vary due to characteristics of children,
characteristics of families, and different dimensions of well-being (Demo & Acock, 1988). With
divorce circumstances being very situational and specific to the individual, these five research
articles cover bases from both ends, recognizing that divorce can be both a negative and positive
experience for children.
In order for these researchers to come up with the results they did, they each carried out
their studies in their own way. Researchers Cherlin, Furstenberg, Chase-Linsdale, Kiernan,
Robins, Morrison, and Teitler used national longitudinal surveys from Great Britain and the
United States as their method to study the effects of divorce on children. One subsample in Great
Britain and another in the U.S was taken of children in two-parent families, age 7. They were
interviewed and achievement tests were administered in math and reading. Researchers recorded

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behavior and the same participants went through the study again at the age of 11. Childrens
parents who separated in between the time of the two interviews were compared the results of
children whose parents did stay married. For boys with parents who divorced, behavior problems
were apparent and achievement levels were greatly reduced. For girls the result was similar but to
a lesser extent. Overall, they determined that the effect of the divorce is a result of conditions that
occurred well before the divorce happened ((Cherlin, Furstenberg, Chase-Lindale, Kiernan,
Robins, Morrison, & Teitler, 1991).
Similarly to the longitudinal study, Hingst also interviewed children but she also used a
questionnaire. First she interviewed 84 fifth graders, asking them how they felt about divorce and
its aftermath. Then she gave a questionnaire to the mothers of the children, which was basically
the same questions their children answered in the interview. Hingst then tried to make
comparisons with the mothers and childs answers. Surprisingly the results did not match up well
for the most part. In fact, mothers underestimated the importance of the childs father in the
childs life by 38% and they underestimated how sad, angry, and upset their child was when told
about the divorce by 20%. The results of the research concluded children wished they had more
time with their father and that a relationship between the father and the child is very important for
a positive adjustment from divorce. It also concluded that the mothers are very unaware of it
possibly due to their own pain and guilt. However, this study had weaknesses which could affect
results. These weaknesses include not having the father take the questionnaire and not assessing
the adjustment of the child after the divorce (Hingst, 1981).
While the last two studies had shown negative effects in childrens lives, the study by
Halligan, Chang, and Knox goes against the norm and shows the positive effects of divorce. The
study was executed through a 31- item questionnaire on the effects of divorce consisting of

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demographic and Likert-type questions. To encourage participation the questionnaire was posted
on the internet and emailed to sociology classes at two universities, which created a volunteer
sample of 336 individuals that experienced parental divorce. The researchers hoped to find
positive effects of divorce and their results were just that. Participants agreed to having more
tolerance for different viewpoints, being more compassionate, being more independent, less reliant
on parents, and enjoying spending time with their mother alone. Although this study came out
with good results we have to be skeptical due to limitations in the study, due to the fact that it
could have a volunteer bias and the participants were not diverse (most were white females)
(Halligan, Change, & Knox, 2014).
The next study I looked at was The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children.
The researcher Amato obtained his results in a different way than the previous studies because
other researchers just use background literature to create a question and propose their own study,
whereas, Amato only gathered his previous research and others previous research in order to
draw conclusions about divorce. As a result, Amato has both negative and positive views on
divorce. These views include those who see divorce as an important contributor to many social
problems and on the other side divorce is seen as a second chance for happiness and can save
children from bad home environments. He suggests further research in cohabitation and looking
more into racial and ethnic minorities (Amato, 2000).
The final study, The Impact of Divorce on Children reviewed empirical evidence that
concentrates on the relationship between divorce and the well-being of a child. Researchers Demo
and Acock looked at patterns in children and suggested that these factors are affected by divorce:
emotional adjustment, gender-role orientation, and antisocial behaviors. They also concluded that
it is inaccurate to think that all divorces have mutual consequences (Demo & Acock, 1988).

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Overall, the studies were very similar in the way they were conducted, yet there were very
different in results considering some looked towards positive effects of divorce while others
looked at the negative effects, or even both. All the studies really differed due to the target
participants, some studies were just the mother and her child; undergraduate students; seven year
olds; and adults and children in general. With diverse studies like these, the topic of divorce can
go a long way and in many separate directions, which can leave many questions unanswered. After
synthesizing 5 articles together I have my answer to my original question: Can divorce have a
positive impact on children? The answer is it is possible, it all depends on the situation. For me, I
know it has, but now a question that remains: Should my parents have waited ten years so that
their children didnt have to experience separation? Is it better to just get it over with?

References
Amato, P. R. (2000), The consequences of divorce for adults and children. Journal of Marriage
and Family, 62(4), 12691287. DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.01269.x.
Cherlin, A. J., Furstenberg, P., Chase-Linsdale, L., Kiernan, K. E., Robins, P. K., Morrison, D. R.,
& Teitler, J. O. (1991). Longitudinal studies of effects of divorce on children in Great
Britain and the United States. Science, 252(5011), 1386-1389. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2875912.

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Demo, D. H. & Acock, A. C. (1988). The impact of divorce on children. Journal of Marriage
and Family, 50, 619-648. Retrieved from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/.
Halligan, C., Chang, I. J., & Knox, D. (2014). Positive effects of parental divorce on
undergraduates. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 55(7), 557-567. DOI:
10.1080/10502556.2014.950905.
Hingst, A. G. (1981). Children and divorce: The child's view. Journal of Clinical Child
Psychology, 10(3), 161. Retrieved from
http://wg9nt4uc8p.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu.