Parental divorce: psychosocial well-being mental health and mortality during youth and young adulthood. A longitudinal study of Swedish conscripts

Residence arrangements and well‐being: A study of Norwegian adolescents

“…Still, the difference in well‐being between adolescents living with two parents versus only one parent was at least as large in the present sample of Norwegian adolescents, as the difference among children and adolescents in US studies. Actually, the findings were more in keeping with the previous studies in Norway, Sweden and Finland (Breidablikk & Meland, 1999; Hansagi et al ., 2000; Mäkikyrö et al ., 1998; Sauvola et al ., 2001; Weitoft et al ., 2003), giving support to the notion that the differences are quite substantial in these countries. The seemingly larger differences observed in Nordic studies as compared to US studies, may be accounted for by the fact that divorce is more common in the USA than in other Western countries (Amato & Keith, 1991) and for this reason, may be less stigmatizing.…”

“…It is frequently noted that economical support and social services may moderate the disadvantages of growing up in a single‐parent family, and therefore one may expect smaller effects of living with a lone mother or a lone father in the Nordic countries (Sørensen, 1999). However, some recent studies carried out in Sweden (Hansagi, Brandt and Andreasson, 2000; Weitoft, Hjern, Haglund & Rosén, 2003), Finland (Mäkikyrö, Sauvola, & Moring, 1998; Sauvola, Räsänen, Joukamaa, Jokelainen, Järvelin & Isohanni, 2001), and Norway (Breidablikk & Meland, 1999) indicate rather large differences in health and well‐being between children and adolescents living with one of their parent as compared to living with both parents, questioning the moderating effects of the economical support and social services available in these countries.…”

Children and young people at risk (Chapter 7)

“…The negative effect of divorce and single parenthood on a child's wellbeing is usually explained by reference to the absence of one of the parents� This absence may not only impair the family's financial status, but also entail the loss of a parent with a higher educational level and social position, which among other things may adversely affect the child's educational aspirations� Moreover, single parents, who are taken up with household duties in addition to supporting their families, have less time to devote to their child(ren)'s other needs� Other research studies have focused on the disturbed relationships and other effects arising from radical changes in a child's life situation following a divorce� Possible conflicts surrounding a divorce can directly affect a child's mental health� They can also do so indirectly through their long-term impact on child-parent relation-ships� Other significant factors are the parents' social networks and their personal attributes (Amato & Keith, 1991;Gähler, 1998;Lagerberg & Sundelin, 2000)� Interviews with Swedish children aged 10 to 18 suggested that in terms of minor mental complaints such as mild depression, stomach pains and nervousness, children in single-parent families did not differ appreciably from those in two-parent families� As far as these problems were concerned, the children believed that the quality of their relationships with their parents was more important than whether the latter were single or not (Brolin Låftman & Östberg, 2004)� With regard to the more long-term repercussions, such as mental ill-health in adult life, another study showed that divorce during a person's childhood was of minor significance, particularly when differences in socioeconomic conditions between single-and two-parent households were taken into account� Conflicts within the family -including two-parent families -doubled the risk of mental illness (Gähler, 1998)� On the other hand, long-term follow-ups of Swedish national service conscripts reported that men who grew up in families in which a divorce had taken place suffered from poorer mental health during childhood and adolescence and ran a higher risk of mental morbidity and early mortality (Hansagi, Brandt & Andréasson, 2001)� Throughout the 1990s, nearly a million Swedish children formed the target population of a series of register-based studies of mortality and the risk of more severe morbidity requiring hospitalisation (Ringbäck Weitoft, Hjern, Haglund & Rosén, 2003)� The risk of mortality, mental illness, attempted suicide, injury and substance/alcohol abuse was higher among children in single-parent families than for children living with both parents� The risk of hospitalisation for substance/alcohol abuse, injury due to violence, and mental illness was two to three times higher than for children living with both parents after adjusting for the presence of substance/alcohol abuse and mental morbidity among parents, parents' age, socioeconomic status, residence in metropolitan areas and country of birth� Table 7:1 shows the percentage of children in singleand two-parent families, respectively, who were hospitalised during the nine-year follow-up period� Although severe morbidity was relatively rare, it was more common among children of single parents� However, the majority -in both single-and two-parent families -were able-bodied and healthy� As shown in…”

Fifteen years after parental divorce: mental health and experienced life-events

“…The long-term consequences of this event on their mental health have been addressed in several studies, but there is a need for further exploration as divorce is a life event that can influence people's lives in many different ways over time (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”