Is the conflict that exists between parents transmitted to their children? Are children of divorce at higher risk for divorcing?
Numerous studies have found that children of divorce are at a higher risk to one day divorce themselves. Why this occurs has led to speculation that an intergenerational transmission process of marital discord exists. Research has supported this notion. In a study conducted by Amato & Booth (2011) the authors conclude that the quality of an individual’s parents’ relationship is related to the reported quality of the children’s later adult relationship quality. Parents who exhibited the following six personality traits: jealousy, easily angered, domineering, critical, moody, and refusal to talk to anyone, exhibited disrupted interpersonal relations and predicted their children’s later marital conflict. Amato & Booth conclude that one or both parents’ negative interpersonal style is at the heart of the intergenerational transmission of marital conflict. One of the ways this is believed to occur is through observational-learning. Observational-learning holds that children process and store their parents’ behaviors and later replicate this behavior in their own marriages.
QUESTION:
Does this seem true in your personal experiences of divorce? Whether it be your own divorce, being a child of divorce, or experiences of divorce related to family and friends?
Kimberly A. Kick, LCSW
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