Adolescents After Divorce

The discourse about the consequences of divorce has been considerably limited by the paucity of research data from studies with solid methodologies to inform this conversation. As a result, the personal opinions of experts drawing on small and sometimes flawed research efforts have assumed an unusually powerful role in shaping ideas about the effects of divorce, the clinical stance we should take toward those going through the process, and the public policy implications.
It therefore is a breath of fresh air to have available the study reported in this book, which can help us to better understand how divorce affects adolescents. When the results of this research are added to other state-of-the-art efforts, such as those conducted by Mavis Hetherington, James Bray, and Constance Ahrons with their respective colleagues, a science-based understanding of the divorce process that has real clinical utility begins to emerge. Such research can help us to grasp what typical processes look like, what factors create greater risk, and even where and in what situations interventions are best focused.

The research described in the book focuses on adolescents whose parents have divorced. (This book is a follow-up to another volume based on this project but centered on the parents.) One-hour telephone interviews were conducted with 522 adolescents from 365 northern California families. The parents in these families had already been followed for the first three years of the postdivorce period. The study is exemplary in its methodology. For example, 90% of the adolescents from the families eligible for this study were actually interviewed.
The results reported are quite provocative. In contrast to the rumor that adolescents inevitably do poorly when their parents are divorced and suffer life-long difficulties, the vast majority of these adolescents functioned well, had good relationships with their parents, and fell within the "normal" range of adjustment. Those living in arrangements in which residence was shared by both parents did at least as well as others, and on some measures, did better. The children who lived with their fathers, although still mostly doing well, showed the most difficulty. When the family was exposed to more life stresses, adolescents tended to do poorly.

Parents' remarriage emerged as a positive factor in the lives of most of the adolescents, although adolescents whose parents lived with partners without remarrying or whose mothers were in the initial stages of dating experienced greater difficulty. Parents sharing their feelings about their own lives with their children was typically associated with better adolescent functioning, but if that sharing promoted the adolescents' feelings of needing to worry about or take care of parents, the adolescent experienced more difficulties.

Few of these adolescents lost contact with their non-residential parents, but the level of contact often became very limited. Surprisingly, the amount of time with the non-residential parent did not seem to affect either adolescent functioning or their relationship with that parent. However, whether there was or was not ongoing contact did make a considerable difference in the lives of the adolescents.

Most of the adolescents did not feel caught in conflicts of loyalty between their parents. However, when such loyalty conflicts occurred frequently, generally in situations when parents had high amounts of conflict with one another, a number of negative consequences emerged for the adolescents.

The adolescents typically reported a high degree of similarity in how their divorced parents managed their respective homes. When differences between homes were greatest, the adolescents tended to have the most difficulties.

The authors clearly explicate their method and findings. The care the authors show in reporting their work clearly emerges as they explain their findings. Rather than selecting simplified headlines that might draw attention readily (e.g., "Adolescents living with their fathers do worse!"), they emphasize the complicated matrix involved in their findings. For example, rather than merely reporting that adolescents in their father's custody tend to have more problems, the authors point out that many adolescents living with their fathers lived with their mothers first and suggest several potential explanations for why these adolescents have more trouble. Similarly, in discussing the finding that adolescents who live alternately with each parent do particularly well, they point out that parents who share this arrangement also tend to cooperate most with one another, and that it is likely that the benefits to adolescents has a basis in high levels of parental cooperation rather than in the specific form of residence.

The major limitation of this volume lies in the minimal effort made to place the findings in the context of other research about divorce and adolescence. This is almost entirely the report of a single study. Although references to the work of others are occasionally included, the authors do not seize the opportunity to explain why some of their findings differ from those of other researchers. Further, although they clearly qualify their findings with the type of sample studied, they do not attempt to explain how studies of adolescents experiencing divorce in other locales or divorce with other characteristics might be similar or different.

Nonetheless, this is as useful a research study on family processes for family therapists as we are likely to see. The material presented is largely jargon free and is explained in a manner accessible to mental health professionals as well as researchers. For those who want the full story, the presentation is thorough yet very readable, and for those who only want to make a quick stop, a very nice summary is provided at the end of the book.

Jay Lebow, PhD
Chicago Center for Family Health Chicago, III.

I am a Certified Mortgage and Divorce Planning Professional. I work exclusively with clients who are either considering or already in the process of a divorce and who are anxious about their ability to continue to pay their obligations and remain independent during and after their divorce plan and protect their CRADLE – Credit, Assets, Dependents, Life and Estate so that they can exit their divorce fiscally intact, remain independent and pay their divorce professionals in full. Call me today at 864-451-7894