Lin I-Fen, Brown Susan L, Mellencamp Kagan A
Department of Sociology and Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
J Marriage Fam. 2024 Feb;86(1):95-110. doi: 10.1111/jomf.12936. Epub 2023 Aug 31.
Drawing on the divorce-stress-adjustment framework, the authors assessed whether parent-adult child relationship dynamics, including disconnectedness from an adult child, exacerbates the negative impact of gray divorce on parental well-being.
Divorce after age 50 is increasingly common but the role of parent-child relationships in parents' adjustment to gray divorce is largely unknown.
Using panel data from 1998 to 2018 Health and Retirement Study in the US, the authors estimated growth curve models to track depressive symptoms prior to, during, and after gray divorce among 930 gray divorced individuals. The authors examined whether the lack of any contact with an adult child in the past 12 months (i.e., parent-child disconnectedness) was associated with depressive symptoms trajectories surrounding divorce and subsequent repartnering.
Having no contact with at least one adult child aggravated the negative effect of divorce on parent's mental health. This association was robust for mothers and fathers. Having no contact with at least one child, however, did not diminish the temporarily positive effect of subsequent repartnering on mental health.
The study contributes to the literature by showing that parent-child disconnectedness adds another blow to parents who are convalescing from divorce.
基于离婚-压力-调整框架，作者评估了父母与成年子女的关系动态，包括与成年子女的疏离，是否会加剧灰色离婚对父母幸福感的负面影响。
50岁之后离婚越来越普遍，但亲子关系在父母适应灰色离婚过程中的作用很大程度上尚不明确。
利用美国1998年至2018年健康与退休研究的面板数据，作者估计了增长曲线模型，以追踪930名经历灰色离婚的个体在灰色离婚之前、期间和之后的抑郁症状。作者研究了在过去12个月里与成年子女没有任何联系（即亲子疏离）是否与离婚及随后重新伴侣关系期间的抑郁症状轨迹相关。
与至少一个成年子女没有联系加剧了离婚对父母心理健康的负面影响。这种关联对母亲和父亲都很显著。然而，与至少一个子女没有联系并没有削弱随后重新伴侣关系对心理健康的暂时积极影响。
该研究表明亲子疏离会给正在从离婚中恢复的父母再添一击，从而为该领域的文献做出了贡献。
