The Comparison of Friendships of Adult Children of Divorce and Adult Children of Intact Families

1
The Comparison of Friendships of Adult Children
of Divorce and Adult Children of Intact Families

• Meghan M. Tweed
• Jennifer L. Crum
• Hanover College

2
Introduction

• Existing research has examined the effects of
  parental divorce on adult children of divorce
  (ACD)
• - When compared to children from intact
  families, ACD have been shown to be impaired in
  their ability to have healthy and long-lasting
  intimate relationships as adults (Kitson, 1992).
• - ACD have an impaired ability to trust others,
  a hunger for love and acceptance, and have a fear
  of commitment (Berman, 1991).

3
Introduction, cont.

• Much of the literature focuses on how intimate
  relationships of ACD are affected.
• There is little research on the effects that
  divorce has on ACDs friendships.
• - Are there differences in the friendships of
  ACD and adult children from intact families?

4
Introduction, cont.

• Studies have shown that higher levels of
  interparental conflict are associated with
  adjustment problems for children.
• - ACD who were exposed to high levels of
  interparental conflict have less close and
  affectionate friendships (Dunn et al., 2001).
• -Will the combination of high interparental
  conflict and divorce have the most impact on
  ACDs friendships?

5
Introduction, cont.

• Studies have shown that males have more problems
  immediately following parental divorce
  (Wallerstein, 1985).
• These studies also suggest that females have more
  long-term effects following parental divorce
  (Wallerstein, 1985).
• - Are females more likely than males to have
  more problems in their friendships?

6
Hypotheses

• We hypothesized that ACD would have more
  difficulties (degree of trust, security, etc.)
  within their friendships than children from
  intact families.
• Adult children that experienced high
  interparental conflict would have more
  difficulties in their friendships than children
  that experienced low interparental conflict.
• Adult children who experienced both high
  interparental conflict and divorce would have the
  most difficulties within their friendships.
• ACD females would have more difficulties in their
  friendships than ACD males.

7
Methods

• Participants
• -101 undergraduates(29 males, 72 females)
• - 27 were ACD
• - 74 were from intact families

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Methods, cont.

• Procedure
• Surveys were given to participants who signed up
  for extra credit and to sororities and
  fraternities on campus.

9
Methods, cont.

• Measures
• - Relationships Scales Questionnaire (Griffin
  
• Bartholomew, 1994)
• - 30 statements, 5 pt. Likert scale
• - 4 subscales (secure, fearful, preoccupied
  dismissing)
• - Secure item I find it easy to get
  emotionally close to others.
• - Fearful item I find it difficult
  to trust others completely.
• - Preoccupied item I worry that others
  dont value me as much as I
  value them.
• - Dismissing item It is important to me
  to feel independent.

10
Methods, cont.

• The Childrens Perception of Interparental
  Conflict Scale (Grych, Seid, Fincham, 1992)
• - 49 true, somewhat true, false statements
• - 3 subscales (conflict properties, threat,
  self-blame)
• - Conflict properties item When my parents
  have an argument they yell a lot.
• - Threat item I get scared when my parents
  argue.
• - Self-blame item It is my fault when my
  parents argue.

11
Methods, cont.

• Friendship Characteristics Questionnaire
• Consisted of 10 questions
• Asked participants about specific
  characteristics of their friendship networks,
  such as size, length, and time spent with friends
  during a normal week.
• Demographics (age at time of divorce,
  remarriages, etc.)

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Results

• T-test comparing divorce status the fearful
  subscale
• - A significant relationship was found for
• divorce and the fearful subscale
• (t 2.43,plt.05).
• - Indicates that ACD reported feeling more
• fearful in their relationships (M 3.18) than
• adult children from intact families (M 2.74).
  

13
Results, cont.

• T-test comparing divorce status the secure
  subscale
• A significant relationship was found between
• divorce status and the secure subscale
• (t -3.55, plt.01).
• Indicates that ACD reported feeling less securely
  attached (M2.94) than adult children from intact
  families (M3.35).

14
Results, cont.

• T-test comparing conflict median fearful
  subscale
• - A relationship between conflict and the
• fearful subscale was found (t -2.60,
  plt.05).
• - Participants who experienced high conflict
• were more fearful in their friendships
• (M 3.07) than participants who experienced
  
• low conflict (M2.66).

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Results, cont.

• T-test comparing conflict median the secure
  subscale
• - A relationship between conflict and the
• secure subscale was found (t 2.15,
  plt.05).
• - Participants who experienced high conflict
• were less secure (M 3.12) in their
  friendships
• than participants who experienced low
  conflict
• (M3.35).

16
Results, cont.

• T-test comparing gender and the fearful subscale
• A significant difference between gender and the
  fearful subscale was found (t -2.92, plt.01).
• Females were found to be more fearful in
• their friendships (M 3.00) than males
• (M 2.50).

17
Results, cont.

• T-test comparing gender and the secure subscale
• A significant difference was found between gender
  and the secure subscale (t 2.10, plt.05).
• Females were found to be less secure in their
  friendships (M3.17) than males (M3.41).

18
Results, cont.

• There were no significant interactions found for
  divorce and interparental conflict.
• There were no significant interactions found for
  gender and divorce.

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Discussion

• As previous research found ACD were impaired in
  their intimate relationships, we also found that
  ACD are more fearful and less securely attached
  in their friendships.
• Research also suggested that high levels of
  interparental conflict impaired adjustment in
  children. We found that participants who
  experienced high levels of conflict are more
  fearful and less secure in their friendships.

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Discussion/Limitations, cont.

• Had a limited number of ACD.
• How does the death of a parent affect
  friendships?
• Future research may want to use a measure that
  looks specifically at friendships.

21

• Thank you