Emerging Ideas. Rumination's Mediating Effect on Feeling Caught and Well‐Being After Parental Infidelity

Abstract

Objective This brief exploratory study, guided by family systems theory, examined whether rumination mediated the relationship between adult children's experience of triangulation (i.e., feeling caught) and well‐being after parental infidelity. Results On the basis of responses from 215 adult children whose parents engaged in infidelity, adult children's well‐being and their feelings of being caught between parents was mediated by rumination. Moreover, the relationship between these variables was not conditional on whether adult children's parents divorced or remained married after infidelity. Implications These findings provide an initial understanding of the impact of parental infidelity on adult children. Further, they suggest that future research should examine family discourses that promote or mitigate rumination because family interactions greatly influence offspring's experiences with this transgression.

“I’ve been cheated, been mistreated, when will I be loved”: Two decades of infidelity research through an intersectional lens

“…Additionally, empathy and positive attributions for the infidelity mediated the association between parental apology and forgiveness. Feeling caught between parents’ disagreements because of infidelity had a negative effect on adult children’s well-being and rumination mediated this association (Thorson, 2021).…”