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Title: Divorce Process and Children's Well-Being: A Prospective Analysis
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Morrison, Donna Ruane
Cherlin, Andrew J.
Divorce Process and Children's Well-Being: A Prospective Analysis
Presented: Denver, CO, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1992
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Development; Children; Children, Academic Development; Children, Behavioral Development; Divorce; Family Influences; Gender Differences; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Disruption; Marriage; Mobility; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This analysis examines the consequences of marital disruption on the well-being of young children using the NLSY Merged Mother-Child file, a large-scale, longitudinal study that includes both detailed assessments of children and family characteristics. The authors take a prospective approach and account for the family situation before physical separation as well as practical, emotional, and economic changes that accompany divorce for children. Outcomes examined include the Behavior Problems Index (BPI) and three Peabody Individual Achievement sub-tests: mathematics, reading recognition and reading comprehension. The analysis begins with assessments of children whose parents' marriages are intact in 1986. By 1988 children fall into either disrupted or intact groups and their behavior and achievement are reassessed. It was found that negative effects of family disruption on the mathematics and BPI scores of boys are not reduced when prior family characteristics are controlled. In addition, the effect of disruption on mathematics test performance can be partially attributed to changes in the quality of the child's home environment, while downward mobility mediates the effect of divorce on boys' behavior.
Bibliography Citation
Morrison, Donna Ruane and Andrew J. Cherlin. "Divorce Process and Children's Well-Being: A Prospective Analysis." Presented: Denver, CO, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1992.