The role of divorce in mens relations with their adult children after mid-life
Cooney, T.; Uhlenberg, P.
Journal of marriage and the family 52(3): 677-688
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-2445 DOI: 10.2307/352933Document Number: 370371
Studies of postdivorce parent-child relations have concentrated primarily on the short-term consequences of divorce for relations between young children and their fathers. In contrast, this study examines the extended effects of divorce on men's relations with their adult offspring. Father-child relations for ever-divorced men aged 50-79 are compared with those of never-divorced married men on the basis of data from the National Survey of Families and Households. Logistic regression analyses reveal that divorce has a pronounced negative effect on the frequency of men's contacts with their adult offspring, significantly reduces the likelihood that men have an adult child in their household, and sharply reduces the probability that fathers consider their adult children as potential sources of support in times of need. Demographic and divorce-related factors that predict adult child-father relations among divorced men also are considered.