Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Why Divorce Begets Divorce
- 3 Coupling and Uncoupling
- 4 How Strong Is the Divorce Cycle?
- 5 Historical Developments
- 6 The Cohabitation Revolution
- 7 Conclusion
- Appendix A Data and Methods
- Appendix B Evaluating the Role of Marriage Differentials in the Weakening Divorce Cycle
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Why Divorce Begets Divorce
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Why Divorce Begets Divorce
- 3 Coupling and Uncoupling
- 4 How Strong Is the Divorce Cycle?
- 5 Historical Developments
- 6 The Cohabitation Revolution
- 7 Conclusion
- Appendix A Data and Methods
- Appendix B Evaluating the Role of Marriage Differentials in the Weakening Divorce Cycle
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Most people will be able to provide a ready answer if asked why divorce has negative effects on children: “Kids need fathers” is one likely response. But the absence or presence of a male role model is not what matters most, it seems. Divorce often subjects children to potentially harmful conflict. Moreover, one- and two-parent families have very different economic circumstances, live in different kinds of neighborhoods, and provide children with different home environments. Which of these factors is responsible for the divorce cycle? In this chapter I discuss the theories that have been offered to account for the negative effects of parental divorce on offspring well-being. This will aid in the interpretation of findings presented in subsequent chapters, as well as facilitate an understanding of how divorce research has evolved over time. Ultimately I will show that the divorce cycle primarily can be attributed to the lessons children learn about marital commitment – not to parental conflict or to the absence of male role models. Genetic and demographic differences between people from divorced and intact families play smaller parts in explaining the transmission of divorce between generations.
Two enduring legacies have guided thinking about how divorce affects children. The first involves the intuitive assumption that male role models are indispensable to children's development. The second has much to do with the liberalization of social-scientific thought in the 1960s and 1970s, which led many researchers to blame troubled families on racism and poverty, rather than on the psychological dynamics of divorce.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Understanding the Divorce CycleThe Children of Divorce in their Own Marriages, pp. 11 - 34Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005