Union Formation and Depression: Selection and Relationship Effects

Lamb, Kathleen A.; Lee, Gary R.; DeMaris, Alfred

doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00953.x

Cited by 195 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Family studies also highlight the need to distinguish between married and cohabiting parents; the latter are more likely to be at elevated psychosocial and individual risk, and these factors may carry into family processes, including heightened risk of subsequent separation Bennett, Blanc, & Bloom, 1988;Booth, Brinkerhoff, & White, 1984;Dunn, DeaterDeckard, Pickering, O'Connor, Golding, & the ALSPAC Study Team, 1998;Horwitz & White, 1998;Lamb, Lee, & DeMaris, 2003). Perhaps as a result of these factors, children residing with cohabiting parents perform more poorly in school and exhibit more behavior problems at school than children living with first-married or remarried parents (Ackerman, D'Eramo, Umylny, Schultz, & Izard, 2001;Aronson & Huston, 2004;Dunifon & KowaleskiJones, 2002;Thomson, Hanson, & McLanahan, 1994).…”

Section: Observations From Prospective Stud-ies Of Parental Separatiomentioning

confidence: 98%

Factors Moderating Children's Adjustment to Parental Separation: Findings From a Community Study in England

Cheng

Dunn

O’Connor

et al. 2006

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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Research findings show that there is marked variability in children's response to parental separation, but few studies identify the sources of this variation. This prospective longitudinal study examines the factors modifying children's adjustment to parental separation in a community sample of 5,635 families in England. Children's behavioral/emotional problems were assessed when children were aged 47 and 81 months; marital quality, maternal depression, socioeconomic circumstances, and demographic variables were assessed prior to the separation from maternal report. Results indicated that 346 mothers separated from their partners in the 3-year period. Preseparation differences were found for measures of family process and parent risk factors, with effect sizes ranging from small to trivial. Parental separation was associated with a significant but modest increase in behavioral/emotional problems, independent of marital quality, maternal depression, socioeconomic circumstances, and demographic variables. Moderation analyses showed that children of cohabiting parents had a greater increase in adjustment problems following parental separation than children of married parents. Further research elucidating the factors that moderate children's adjustment to parental separation is needed to improve our understanding of who may most likely benefit from preventive interventions.

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Section: Observations From Prospective Stud-ies Of Parental Separatiomentioning

confidence: 98%

Factors Moderating Children's Adjustment to Parental Separation: Findings From a Community Study in England

Cheng

Dunn

O’Connor

et al. 2006

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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show abstract

“…These associations are consistent with findings that being in a relationship and being married has positive effects on psychological health for heterosexual individuals (e.g., Kamp Dush & Amato, 2005). Other studies have indicated that selection effects do not solely account for the associations between heterosexual marriage and psychological health (e.g., Lamb, Lee, & DeMaris, 2003). Hope, Rodgers, and Power (1999) concluded from an analysis of a national longitudinal study that marriage has a psychological health benefit beyond pre-existing individual mental health levels.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological distress, well-being, and legal recognition in same-sex couple relationships.

Riggle

Rostosky

Horne

2010

Journal of Family Psychology

196

124

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Legal recognition of same-sex couple relationships provides at least some material benefits to couple members; however, few studies have examined the associations between legal recognition and psychological distress or well-being. Using an online survey sample of 2,677 lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) individuals, participants were placed in 4 groups: single, dating, in a committed relationship, and in a legally recognized relationship. Analyses revealed that participants in committed or legally recognized relationships reported less psychological distress (i.e., internalized homophobia, depressive symptoms, and stress) and more well-being (i.e., the presence of meaning in life) than single participants. Significant group differences and multivariate analyses indicated that participants in a legally recognized relationship reported less internalized homophobia, fewer depressive symptoms, lower levels of stress, and more meaning in their lives than those in committed relationships, even after controlling for other factors. The need for further research on the psychological benefits of legal relationship recognition for same-sex couples is discussed.

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“…There is some evidence that lower self-esteem (Kim and McKenry 2002) and depression (Horwitz, White, and HowellWhite1996) negatively predict women's entry into marriage, and life satisfaction is positively associated with marriage (Mastekaasa 1992; but see Lamb, Lee, and DeMaris 2003) and negatively associated with divorce (Mastekaasa 1994). Exposure to mothers' depression in infancy and early childhood is also associated with young children's internalizing and externalizing problems (Essex, Klein, Cho, and Kraemer 2003;Essex, Klein, Miech, and Smider 2001).…”

Section: Predictors Of Child Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Instability and Child Well-Being

2007

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Past research suggests that children who experience multiple transitions in family structure may face worse developmental outcomes than children raised in stable two-parent families and perhaps even children raised in stable, single-parent families. However, multiple transitions and negative child outcomes may be associated because of common causal factors such as parents' antecedent behaviors and attributes. Using a nationally-representative, two-generation longitudinal survey that includes detailed information on children's behavioral and cognitive development, family history, and mother's attributes prior to the child's birth, we examine these alternative hypotheses. Our results suggest that, for white children, the association between the number of family structure transitions and cognitive outcomes is largely explained by mother's prior characteristics but that the association between the number of transitions and behavioral outcomes may be causal in part. We find no robust effects of number of transitions for black children.The instability of family structure has become an increasingly salient part of children's lives in the United States over the past half-century. During this period, as is well-known, divorce rates increased (Cherlin 1992), as did the prevalence of nonmarital cohabitation, which is less stable than marriage (Bumpass and Lu 2000). Moreover, cohabitation and marriage appear to be more unstable in the United States than in most other developed countries; and a relatively high percentage of American children experience transitions into single-parent families and stepfamilies (Andersson, 2002;Heuveline, Timberlake and Furstenberg 2003).A growing body of literature suggests that children who experience multiple transitions in family structure may fare worse developmentally than children raised in stable two-parent families and perhaps even than children raised in stable, single-parent families. This body of research presents what we call the instability hypothesis, the prediction that children are affected by disruption and changes in family structure as much as (or even more than) by the type of family structures they experience. If this hypothesis were true, it would suggest that a significant reinterpretation of the effects of family structure on children's well-being may be warranted. For example, it would imply that a child born to a single parent might be as well off, or perhaps even better off, if the parent did not cohabit or remarry.However, most empirical tests of the instability hypothesis have neglected an alternative explanation. The association between multiple transitions and negative child outcomes does not necessarily imply that the former causes the latter. In fact, multiple transitions and negative child outcomes may be associated with each other through common causal factors reflected in the parents' antecedent behaviors and attributes. We call this explanation the selection hypothesis. A test of the instability hypothesis versus the selection hypothesis would there...

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Union Formation and Depression: Selection and Relationship Effects

Cited by 195 publications

References 45 publications

Factors Moderating Children's Adjustment to Parental Separation: Findings From a Community Study in England

Factors Moderating Children's Adjustment to Parental Separation: Findings From a Community Study in England

Psychological distress, well-being, and legal recognition in same-sex couple relationships.

Family Instability and Child Well-Being

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