# EFFECTS OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN

> **NIH NIH R37** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 1994 · $268,250

## Abstract

This is a competing continuation application to study the effects of
parental marital disruption (the first occurrence of separation or
divorce) on the short- and long-term well-being of children.  The
proposed analyses, building on the current project, will focus on
divorce not as an event but rather as a process that begins before the
parents separate and continues afterward.  The great rise in divorce
in the 1960s and 1970s means that now, in the early 1990s, the first
birth cohorts to experience this high risk of parental divorce are
entering adulthood.  They will greatly expand the proportion of adults
in their 20's and 30' who have experienced a parental divorce.  But
relatively little is known about the effect of parental divorce during
childhood on adult functioning and well-being; and what is known is
drawn largely from retrospective reports.

One part of this project will be to analyze the 1958 through 1991 waves
of the prospective, longitudinal National Child Development Study
(NCDS) of Great Britain, which has followed a single birth cohort from
age 0 to 33.  Key questions will include the following:  Do the effects
of experiencing a parental divorce-on mental health; on demographic
outcomes such as childbearing, union formation, and divorce; and on
economic outcomes--persist into mid-life?  Does whether or not the
parent remarries make a difference?  Do late divorces (in the child's
late teens or 20's) affect adult children?  And do all of these effects
still hold once characteristics of the child and his or her family
prior to the divorce are taken into account?

In addition, assessments were conducted on a random sub-sample of the
children of the 33-year-old NCDS panel members in 1991.  It is proposed
to analyze the effects of parental divorce on this new generation,
using the detailed information on their parents from birth to age 33.
The key question is:  How much of the effect of divorce on children can
be accounted for by the history of their parents' psychological
functioning since the parents' own childhood?

Finally, the effects of divorce on younger children will be pursued,
using the 1986-1992 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
(NLSY).  The current project found modest, generally non-significant
effects of divorce 2 to 2 1/2 years, on average, after the disruption
among children aged 7-16 at the time of the breakup; but it found
stronger effects for a heavily-preschool-aged sample 1 year after the
breakup.  This discrepancy leads to 2 questions that will be explored
with the assessments of children in the 1986, 1988, 1990, and 1992
NLSY:  Does the disruption itself and its aftermath cause more problems
for young (preschool-aged) children than for older children?  And/or
does the disruption itself and its aftermath produce transitory
behavior problems in children of all ages which fade within about two
years in most cases?

The proposed analyses will begin with simple regression models and
hazard models.  We...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2199767
- **Project number:** 5R37HD025936-06
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** FTMTDMBR29C7
- **Principal Investigator:** Andrew J Cherlin
- **Activity code:** R37 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $268,250
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1989-08-01 → 1998-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2199767

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2199767, EFFECTS OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN (5R37HD025936-06). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2199767. Licensed CC0.

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