The effects of parental divorce on adult tobacco and alcohol consumption.

I use data from the 1977-1994 National Opinion Research Council General Social Survey to examine the impact of parental divorce on the alcohol and tobacco consumption of adult offspring. Divorce greatly increases the likelihood of being a smoker and, for men, a problem drinker. Parental remarriage completely offsets the effects of parental divorce on men's drinking but does not substantially affect cigarette use. Respondent socioeconomic characteristics accounted for a portion of the relationship between parental divorce and smoking but did not affect rates of problem drinking. Social control and psychosocial adjustment--two established explanations for the effects of parental divorce--could not adequately explain my findings.