A Historical Review of Research Findings regarding the Adjustment of U.S. Children to Divorce

A Historical Review of Research Findings Regarding the Adjustment of U.S. Children to Divorce Since the end of World War 11, the ecological environment of the family has undergone significant changes especially in the United States (Amato 1997; West 1996). Changes resulting from technology have exerted indirect effects on the world of the child while changes in the structure of the family have produced direct effects. Among the changes related to the structure of the family are an increased number of children living in homes where both parents are employed or where there is only one parent. From the 1940s to the late 1960s, the majority of children were born to married parents and lived with these parents throughout childhood and adolescence. In the 1990's, a larger number of children were expected to live apart from at least one parent or be born into a single parent home (McLanahan & Sandefur 1994). Children living in single parent families may live with a parent who has never been married, who is separated from a spouse, or who has lost a spouse as a result of death or divorce. In 1940, 86.7 % of the families in the U. S. were two parent families, whereas in 1970, 86.5 % of U. S. children lived in two parent families (Hernandez 1993). Due to an increase in the number of divorces in 1946, the number of two parent families showed a slight decline and then remained fairly stable until the late 1960's (West 1996). From 1970 to 2000, the percentage of children living in two parent families decreased from 86.5% in 1970 to 69.1 % in 2000 (Hernandez 1993; U. S. Bureau of the Census 2006). More recent statistics indicated that in 2004 the rate of two parent families was 67.8%. These figures reflect an upsurge in children born into single parent families, children whose parent may have died of natural causes or through war-related efforts, and the increased number of children living in divorced families. For purposes of this article, the term single parent families will refer to either mother-or father-headed families who have experienced divorce. A comparison of world-wide divorce statistics indicated that the rate of divorce in the United States of 7.9 (per 1000 population) is almost twice that of any of the European countries, Japan or Canada (U. S. Bureau of the Census 2006). The United Kingdom whose divorce rate earned that country a rank of second ranged from 4.4 (per 1000 population) in 1980 to 4.1 in 2002, respectively, a rate that is almost 50% less than the rate estimated for the U. S. In contrast, Italy is a country with one of the lowest divorce rates, ranging from 0.3 per 1000 population in 1980 to 1.1 in 2002. These figures suggest that divorce affects U.S. children more frequently than children in other industrialized nations. From 1950 to 1990, the rate of divorce in the United States showed a threefold increase whereas from 1990 to 2002, the rate declined slightly (The 1993 Information Please Almanac 1993; U.S. Bureau of the Census 1990 & 1991). Statistics indicated that 7.9 out of every 1000 marriages ended in divorce in 1980 whereas in 1990 the rate was 7.2 per 1000 and in 2002, 6.0 (U.S. Census Bureau 2006). These statistics indicate that the rate of divorce in the United States was fairly stable from 1940 to the late 1960s, peaked during the 1980s, and then fell somewhat. In 1960, less than 500,000 U. S. children were affected by divorce while in 1980 close to 1.2 million children had experienced the divorce of their parents. From 1980 to 1990, the number of children living in a divorced family decreased from slightly less than 1.2 million to 1 million. Predications regarding the percentage of American children who will live in a single parent family before reaching the age of eighteen suggested that more than 50% of those born after 1992 would, at some time between their birth and reaching the age of 18, live in a single parent family (McLanahan & Sandefur 1994). …

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