Buyukkececi Zafer
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
Eur J Ageing. 2025 Apr 30;22(1):19. doi: 10.1007/s10433-025-00849-x.
This study examines the association between gray parental divorce and family solidarity, defined as the quality and frequency of intergenerational relationships, including contact, emotional closeness, and functional support. The analysis focuses on how the effects of gray divorce vary across families with differing levels of closeness and interaction prior to the divorce, given that families with weaker bonds-such as infrequent contact or less emotional closeness-may face greater challenges in maintaining relationships after divorce compared to those with stronger ties. To test this, I use 13 waves of longitudinal data from pairfam and recentered influence function (RIF) regression that allows to examine how the effects of parental divorce differ across the entire distribution of solidarity, distinguishing between families with weak, moderate, and strong ties. Families with lower solidarity, particularly in terms of contact frequency and emotional closeness, are more likely to experience gray parental divorce. The negative effects of parental divorce on parent-adult child relationships are also more pronounced in these families and among fathers. Conversely, families with moderate or high levels of solidarity are more resilient to the negative impacts of divorce. Accordingly, the gap in intergenerational solidarity widens across families, with low-solidarity families being more likely to experience parental divorce later in life and exhibiting more negative outcomes compared to families with stronger ties. This growing differences across families also highlight the relevancy of targeted policy interventions aimed at supporting families, particularly those with weaker ties, and addressing the unique challenges faced by fathers after divorce.
本研究考察了老年父母离婚与家庭团结之间的关联，家庭团结被定义为代际关系的质量和频率，包括联系、情感亲密程度和功能支持。分析聚焦于老年离婚的影响如何在离婚前亲密程度和互动水平不同的家庭中有所差异，因为与关系紧密的家庭相比，关系薄弱的家庭（如联系不频繁或情感亲密程度较低）在离婚后维持关系可能面临更大挑战。为了验证这一点，我使用了来自pairfam的13波纵向数据以及再中心化影响函数（RIF）回归，该回归能够考察父母离婚的影响在团结程度的整个分布中如何不同，区分关系薄弱、中等和紧密的家庭。团结程度较低的家庭，尤其是在联系频率和情感亲密程度方面，更有可能经历老年父母离婚。父母离婚对父母与成年子女关系的负面影响在这些家庭以及父亲中也更为明显。相反，团结程度中等或较高的家庭对离婚的负面影响更具韧性。因此，不同家庭之间代际团结的差距不断扩大，与关系紧密的家庭相比，团结程度低的家庭在晚年更有可能经历父母离婚并表现出更多负面结果。家庭之间这种日益扩大的差异也凸显了有针对性的政策干预的相关性，这些干预旨在支持家庭，特别是那些关系薄弱的家庭，并应对父亲在离婚后面临的独特挑战。
