Effects of family disintegration on children later depression

Abstract

Studies examining the effects of marital dissolution on children's welfare have repeatedly found that children of separated parents perform worse on several well-being parameters than those from intact households. Depression is highly represented in the health care system among children and older offspring of divorced parents. This study utilizes the double ABCX model to examine the relationship between divorce and depression. The goal of the study was to see if divorce is a sound predictor of depression. Divorce was shown to only explain a modest portion of the variation in depression (r^2= .04). This level of variation suggests that other than divorce, various additional variables have a role in depression. The study closes with the indication that if additional moderating variables such as the child's maturity and availability of household resources before and after dissolution were encompassed in the analysis, divorce would become a stronger risk factor for depression. Family disharmony may be linked to a higher incidence of severe depressive illness in children of divorced parents.