Examining gender effects in postdivorce adjustment trajectories over the first year after divorce in Denmark.

Abstract

Research into gender and postdivorce mental and physical health has been highly inconsistent. The Gender Similarities Hypothesis suggests there are more similarities than differences and the Divorce Stress Adjustment Perspective suggests that structural inequalities may contribute to adverse postdivorce outcomes. We conducted secondary analyses from an RCT study to investigate if there were gender-specific trajectories and whether gender was associated with outcomes (self-perceived stress, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization, general hostility, and overall mental and physical health) after controlling for effects of the intervention, income, and number of children using linear mixed-effect regression modeling, and whether number of children and income influenced these outcomes. Participants were 1,239 women and 617 men from the Cooperation after Divorce (CAD) study, conducted in Denmark, a country with less income disparity, high gender equality, shared childrearing by men and women, and societal acceptance of divorce. The analyses assessing the relationship between gender and 12-month postdivorce adjustment in terms of physical and mental health outcomes revealed that for self-perceived stress, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization, hostility, and overall mental and physical health in this sample postdivorce adjustment trajectories were not gender-specific, and gender was only significantly associated with stress and somatization as a time-invariant additive effect. These findings suggest gender similarities in postdivorce adjustment and contribute to the Gender Similarities Hypothesis and the Divorce-Stress-Adjustment-Perspective by assessing individuals’ postdivorce adjustment in a low-stigma and relatively egalitarian setting, providing a clearer assessment of the role of gender without potentially confounding issues of structural inequalities.

Marital status and gambling disorder: a longitudinal study based on national registry data

“…For divorce, this contrasts with previous research suggesting that divorce has stronger impact on men’s short-term wellbeing and women’s long-term income level, compared to the other gender [ 29 ]. However, a recent Danish study [ 47 ] did not find any gender-related differences in post-divorce trajectories between men and women. The authors argued that such gender differences were less likely to appear in egalitarian societies, such as the Danish.…”

“…Leopold [ 29 ] investigated gender differences in outcomes following divorce over a 32-year period and found that men reported reduced well-being short-term compared to women, while women experienced stronger reduction in income long-term compared to men. However, other studies have not found gender differences in post-divorce and post-marriage trajectories (e.g., [ 47 , 48 , 52 ].…”

Determinants of personal growth and life satisfaction in divorced adults

“…These results must be interpreted with caution since the contradictory pattern of findings regarding gender differences in post‐divorce life satisfaction (Gustavson et al, 2012; Lucas, 2005; Næss et al, 2015). Data from recent longitudinal research have suggested that examining the interaction effect of gender with other sociodemographic characteristics may shed light on these opposing findings regarding a potential gender effect on life satisfaction (Leopold, 2018; Strizzi et al, 2022). For example, Leopold (2018) found that women reported higher life satisfaction immediately after divorce, but adaptation to post‐divorce developmental tasks alleviated gender differences in life satisfaction over time, with no differences between women and men in medium and long‐term life satisfaction.…”

“…These results must be interpreted with caution since the contradictory pattern of findings regarding gender differences in post-divorce life satisfaction (Gustavson et al, 2012;Lucas, 2005;Naess et al, 2015). Data from recent longitudinal research have suggested that examining the interaction effect of gender with other sociodemographic characteristics may shed light on these opposing findings regarding a potential gender effect on life satisfaction (Leopold, 2018;Strizzi et al, 2022).…”

The Resilience of Russian Families in the Face of Modern Challenges: A Pilot Study

“…Loss challenges, relationship challenges, global challenges, challenges of illness, challenges of fi nancial well-being -these are what our respondents wrote about, and they are the foci of most research on family resilience (most oft en each challenge is considered separately). Th us, special characteristics of family resilience have been analyzed in relation to illness in the family (Saltzman, 2016); to loss (Barboza, 2021;Khatib, 2022); confl icts in the family and divorce (Mashego, 2014;Strizzi, 2022); financial diffi culties (Kholostova, 2018;Orthner, 2004;Raniga, 2016); to global challenges, including various problems, for example, military operations, natural disaster, migration (Denoy, 2019;Mawarpury, 2017); and low income, together with potentially fatal disease (Naidoo, 2022).…”