European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 4 (2020) 100102

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Research Paper

Pre-eminence of parental conflicts over parental divorce regarding the

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Introduction. – The long-term consequences of divorce on adult children’s mental health appear to be
Received 9 December 2018 under-investigated. Specifically, the respective roles of parental separation and the level of perceived
Received in revised form 20 February 2019 parental conflict are still controversial.
Accepted 22 February 2019
Objective. – This paper considers a model between depression and anxiety disorders (DAD) during the
adulthood of children of divorced/married parents via the perceived level of parental conflict. We
Keywords: predicted that the level of perceived parental conflict that would account for the influence of divorce on
Divorce
the level of DAD during adulthood.
Parental conflict
Marital turmoil
Method. – A sample of 121 adults (MAge = 26.14, SD = 1.74, 91 women), consisting of 55 children of
Depression divorced parents, 66 children of parents who are still cohabiting, completed a questionnaire assessing
Anxiety disorders DAD, and perceived level of parental conflict.
Results. – Although results do not provide evidence of differences between the two groups, the level of
perceived conflict significantly predicted DAD during adulthood in both groups although with a small
effect size.
Conclusion. – This could imply that it is not separation per se that predicts the long-term effects of
divorce but rather the exposure to parental conflict. Moreover, consistently with previous findings,
participants’ perceived level of conflict in the family was not a significant predictor of divorce between
the parents. Limitations of the study and its clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.
C 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

In 2000, Ellis (2000) stated the common assertion that when 1994). According to Starcevic (2009), anxiety can be seen as a
parents divorce, children are the biggest losers. However, Emery pathological stress that is not related to physical disease, substance
(1982) wrote ‘‘the idea that marital turmoil is the cause of behavior abuse or psychotic disorder.
problems in children is widely held both in the public and in the Depressive and Anxiety Disorders (DAD) have become a major
professional domain’’ (p. 310). Choosing between two evils is never public health problem in Western countries. In the USA, the
an easy matter. This paper aims at disentangling the long-term role lifetime prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders are 28.8%
of divorce and perceived parental conflict on the level of anxiety and 20.8%, respectively. In Europe, DAD results in 6% of the burden
and depression on children during their adulthood. of all diseases with respect to disability-adjusted life years (DALYs,
Depression can be depicted as a syndrome characterized by two http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml). Therefore, an accurate
major symptoms: sadness and anhedonia. Other associated understanding of the risk factors leading to DAD is of crucial
symptoms range from weight loss, insomnia or hypersomnia, importance for both medical and economic reasons.
tiredness, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of guilt, Several Authors have emphasized several genetic, biological,
intrusive thoughts, trouble in decision-making, up to dark societal and psychological components of DAD (see, for example,
thoughts and suicidal attempts (American Psychiatric Association, Beck & Alford, 2009; Kroenke, Spritzer, Williams, Monahan, &
Lowe, 2007). Among the societal and psychological factors, several
scholars have emphasized a link between the presence of a trauma
* Corresponding author at: avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 50, CP191, 1050 Brussels,
or of multiple traumas during lifetime and DAD (Fossion et al.,
Belgium.
E-mail address: cleys@ulb.ac.be (C. Leys).
2013; Veling, Hall, & Joosse, 2013).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejtd.2019.02.005
2468-7499/ C 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
2 C. Leys et al. / European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 4 (2020) 100102

Among the possible causes of DAD, divorce stands as a major do not measure anxiety and depression as outcome). On the other
current societal concern (Aseltine Jr, 1996; Demir-Dagdas, Isik-Ercan, hand, Hovens et al. (2010) do not show any impact of divorce on
Intepe-Tingir, & Cava-Tadik, 2018). Indeed, if we look at the facts, anxiety during adulthood, but underline a strong effect of
since about the 1960s, the divorce rate has increased in all emotional neglect (linked to parental conflict and lack of parental
western countries, according to the theory of The Second attention) that they consider at the core of childhood trauma along
Demographic Transition (Cruz & Ahmed, 2018). The proportion with psychological, physical or sexual abuse. Indeed, emotional
of marriages has decreased. The number of divorced and separate neglect is a main issue in the attachment theory that can yield
couples has risen. severe psychological distress when jeopardized.
This is essentially true for the US, a little less for European Related to parental conflict, Furstenberg and Kiernan (2001)
countries, although there is a discrepancy between countries, with emphasize that the pre-divorce experiences might have important
the lowest divorce rate in Ireland and the highest in Belgium consequences for the children’s welfare, even more than the
(Amato, 2014). The consequences of divorces for children have separation itself. According to these Authors, conflicts exhibited by
generated a large field of research that distinguishes short-term parents are at the core of the impact of divorce on children.
and long-term consequences. Furthermore, it is important to note that most of the time, children
With regard to short-term consequences of parental divorce for are not only confronted to conflict, they frequently become directly
children, researchers (Lamela, Figueiredo, Bastos, & Feinberg, involved in interparental frictions and antagonism (Davies,
2016; Weaver & Schofield, 2015) describes internalizing problems Manning, & Cicchetti, 2013; Davies, Sturge-Apple, Boscoe, &
(characterized by an excessive control such as inhibition, Cummings, 2014). But the act of separation per se might not
withdrawal, DAD) and externalizing problems (characterized by directly impact the well-being of the family members, or it may
a lack of control of emotions with behaviors problems such as incur a smaller effect size than that which is currently described in
acting out, noncompliance and conduct disorders), for a review, see the literature. Furthermore, children experience loyalty conflicts,
Achenbach et al. (2016). Regarding the long-term negative effects they are constantly forced to take sides, this impacts their
of divorce on children, they include different dimensions such as subjective well-being, more attention should be devoted to these
decrease of well-being, emotional disorders or academic achieve- issue by therapists and educators working with distresses couples
ment problems (Sands, Thompson, & Gaysina, 2017) or other (Amato & Afifi, 2006).
outcomes such as love achievement, sexual intimacy, commitment The effects of parental divorce on children becoming adult,
to marriage and parenthood on a period of 25 years (Wallerstein & although not totally unexplored, remain understudied in the
Lewis, 2004). current literature (see the review paper of Morrison, Fife, &
Moreover, it is relevant to notice that, since several years, there Hertlein, 2017). Gilman, Kawachi, Fitzmaurice, and Buka (2003)
is an important debate on whether or not divorce per se can yield show that low socio-economic level and parental conflict can raise
mental and/or physical problems for children (Amato, 2014). the likelihood of children developing DAD during adulthood. They
Following Amato (2014), available researches suggest that the link also found a moderating effect of conflict on the relationship
between divorce and psychological distress exhibited by children between divorce and DAD during adulthood. However, in this
might be at least partly spurious, due to confounding factors such study, the level of conflict was high (e.g., the presence of physical
as selection effects, negative financial consequences of divorce, aggression) and there was no distinction between conflicts that
degradation of the living environment and parental conflict was related or not to divorce. The reasons why parental conflict
following the divorce. Note that the term Parental conflict refers could be an important mediator between divorce and the
to an open hostility between married, separated or divorced occurrence of DAD during the adulthood of children of divorced
parents (Emery, 1982). Later, Authors distinguished between parents are numerous. Conflict is linked with several key variables,
constructive and destructive conflict (McCoy, Cummings, & Davies, such as the quality of parent-child attachment (Kenny, 2006),
2009; McCoy, George, Cummings, & Davies, 2013), the first one loyalty conflict (that relies on the fact that conflict between parents
being conflicts that do not threaten emotional security (in the tend to force the child to make a choice between one of the parents)
sense of the Emotional Security Theory of Davies and Cummings, that appears to be very painful for the child (Ahrons, 2006).
1994) whereas the latter does. In this paper, we will refer to Other researchers have already emphasized the relationship
parental conflict as the destructive conflict pictured by Emery between divorce, parental conflict and long-term consequences on
(1982) and related to Emotional Security Theory by Cummings and the adult children (e.g. Ahrons, 2006; Amato, Loomis, & Booth,
Miller-Graff (2015). Two cross-sectional studies (Cummings, 1995; Amato & Sobolewski, 2001; Aseltine Jr, 1996; Gilman et al.,
Goeke-Morey, & Papp, 2003; Du Rocher Schudlich & Cummings, 2003; Kumar & Mattanah, 2018; Sandler, Miles, Cookston, &
2003) showed a relation between marital conflict and child anxiety Braver, 2008; Strohschein, 2005). Strohschein (2005) has investi-
on a trait versus a state level. They suggested that children’s state gated pre-divorce familial characteristics and their influence on:
anxiety could be explained by parental aggression towards each (a) the occurrence of divorce and, (b) the consequences of these
other during the conflict, whereas children’s trait anxiety seemed characteristics on the adult children’s mental health. The Author
to be a function of parents’ lack of problem solving during the shows that variables such as socio-economic level, marital
conflict. Besides, several studies show that depression and anxiety satisfaction, parental mental health, or family dysfunction can
are likelier to occur following traumatic events than following impact adult children’s mental health, even prior to divorce.
mere negative life events (Hovens et al., 2010) and likelier to occur Sandler et al. (2008) also reported an influence of parental conflict
in case of multiple trauma during lifetime (Fossion et al., 2013). on the relationship between divorce and mental health of adult
What remains unclear is whether parental conflict and/or divorce children. Nevertheless, they studied a sample of children with
can be considered as trauma. Indeed, following the DSMV, trauma divorced parents without a control group (since their independent
refers to exposure to actual or threatens death, serious injury, or variables were related to the process of the divorce), which does
sexual violence, which is not necessarily the case of parental not allow conclusions to be drawn specifically about divorce.
conflict or divorce. Related to divorce, opinions diverge. For Weldon (2016) has reviewed the negative effects of parental
example, Wallerstein and Lewis (2004) show through a 25 years divorce on children’s romantic relationships in adulthood.
survey in the US (between the early 1970 and the late 1990) that Ahrons (2006) conducted a long-term study on the impact of
divorce is lived as an acute stress from which the child recovers but parents’ divorce on future stress and loyalty conflict related to the
always consider as a life-transforming experience (although they level of conflict between parents during the divorce. There again,
 C. Leys et al. / European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 4 (2020) 100102 3

the cohort consisted of 173 children (20 years after the divorce), 1.2. Measures
but without a control group, and without taking into account the
pre-divorce level of conflict. In the same line of thinking, Amato 1.2.1. Conflict exposition in the nuclear family
et al. (1995) showed that children confronted with a high level of Five 6-point Likert scale items were created to measure the
parental conflict, even when living with two parents, developed conflict in the nuclear family. Three items captured the perception of
problems in their romantic relationships in adulthood. Other the existence of parental conflict (i.e., ‘‘During my childhood and
Authors (Kumar & Mattanah, 2018) showed a significant positive adolescence, tensions were uncommon between my parents’’; ‘‘My
correlation between the perception of parental conflict and parents often quarreled in front of me’’; ‘‘My parents have always
depression symptoms and feeling of loneliness and a negative handled their conflicts cautiously and avoided involving me’’); two
correlation between perception of parental conflict and romantic items captured the repercussions of parental conflict on the child in
competence in a sample of 188 emerging adult college students. line with Kenny (2006)’s idea that children feel disregarded when the
Lastly, Amato and Sobolewski (2001) showed a negative correla- conflict occurs (‘‘In periods of conflict, I felt that my parents paid less
tion between the quality of children/parents’ relationship during attention to me’’) and with Ahrons (2006)’s argument that children
adulthood and DAD. may feel a conflict of loyalty (‘‘During periods of conflict I was
In order to contribute to increasing the comprehension of the sometimes compelled to take the side of a parent’’). An exploratory
effects of parental divorce on adult children, this paper aims at factor analysis revealed a one-factor structure explaining 61% of
testing the hypothesis that parental conflict can be identified as a variance. The six-item indicator had very good reliability (a = .84).
key factor explaining the long-term consequences of family
dynamics on the occurrence of DAD among adult children. 1.2.2. Exposure to conflict related to divorce
Moreover, we also postulate that, in the case of divorce, the level Six 6-point Likert scale items were created, following the same
of parental conflict during the divorce period might also predict the logic than the previous measure (i.e. ‘‘There were a lot of quarrels
consequences of divorce on children. Considering what precedes, between my parents before the divorce’’; ‘‘My parents kept a good
four hypotheses emerge from our theoretical development: relationship after the divorce’’; ‘‘My parents always kept their
conflict aside when taking care of me’’; ‘‘During the divorce and/or
 (H1) In accordance with Aseltine Jr (1996) and Demir-Dagdas after, I was emotionally torn between my parents’’; ‘‘After the
et al. (2018), parental divorce (PD) will predict a higher level of divorce I felt uncomfortable evoking mentioning a parent in front
DAD among adult children; of the other’’; ‘‘After the divorce, I felt that the bond between me
 (H2) In accordance with Ahrons (2006), PD will occur in families and one of my parent was weaker’’). An exploratory factor analysis
with a higher level of conflict between the parents in the nuclear revealed a one-factor structure explaining 58% of variance. The six-
family (CNF, i.e. parental conflict during the marriage); item indicator had very good reliability (a = .86).
 (H3) In accordance with Sandler et al. (2008), in the divorced
parents group, there will be a positive correlation between the 1.2.3. Hopkins Symptom Checklist
level of perceived parental conflict during the divorce (CDD) and To assess the prevalence of DAD, we used the HSC (Derogatis,
the level of DAD among adult children; Lipman, Rickels, Uhlenhuth, & Covi, 1974), which is a brief, 25-item
 (H4) As an exploratory hypothesis, we postulate that a high level version of the Symptom Check List (Derogatis, Lipman, Rickels,
of conflict before divorcing will predict a high level of conflict Uhlenhuth, & Covi, 1973; Derogatis, 1983). This self-report
during the divorce. questionnaire rates the presence of depression and anxiety
symptoms (but does not diagnose the presence of a disorder)
using a 4-point scale that ranges from 1 (‘‘not at all’’) to 4 (‘‘very
much’’). This scale contains 15 depression items (a = .90) and
1. Materials and method 10 anxiety items (a = .80). The HSC is highly reliable (a = .92) and is
a valid screening tool even across cultures. The French version of
1.1. Participants the HSC has been validated by previous studies (Bean, Derluyn,
Eurelings-Bontekoe, Broekaert, & Spinhoven, 2007; Pichot, Wilde-
We recruited participants between 24 and 30 years old in order löcher, & Pull, 1989).
to reach young adults that have left the parental residence but who
are comparable regarding the age range. Indeed, DAD are known to 1.2.4. Procedure
become more severe with age (Lebowitz et al., 1997). A sample of A Limesurvey online questionnaire approved by the ethic
121 (MAge = 26.14, SD = 1.74, 91 women) participants was committee of the faculty of psychological sciences (Université
recruited through an URL posted on social networks, mainly on Libre de Bruxelles) was posted on social networks (namely
student’s Facebook groups. The sample was composed of students Facebook). The questionnaire started by an informed consent
in different fields such as architecture, engineering, psychology form in which anonymity was ensured. We specified that
and sociology. Among this sample, 55 participants had divorced participants should feel free to withdraw their participation at
parents (‘‘DP’’, MAge = 25.96, SD = 1.76, 45 women), and 66 parti- any time. All participants were asked the same questions, except
cipants had parents who were still married or living together (‘‘PT’’, for some questions that were specific to participants with divorced
MAge = 26.29, SD = 1.73, 46 women). Table 1 shows the marital parents. We first collected socio-demographic data such as age,
status of the participants. gender, marital status, number of children, parents’ marital status
(which was our main IV). Participants with divorced parents were
asked at what age their parents divorced and what was the custody
Table 1
Participant marital status per condition. arrangement. They then filled the 5-item measure of the level of
exposure to conflict in the nuclear family, the 6-item measure of
Divorced parents (DP), Parents together (PT),
exposure to conflict related to divorce (for participants with
n (%) n (%)
divorced parents), and, finally, the 25-item HSC scale assessing
Single 14 (25.5) 15 (22.7) DAD. Participants were thanked and provided with the resear-
Married 3 (5.4) 10 (15.2)
cher’s e-mail address and a debriefing text explaining the goal of
In a relationship 38 (69.1) 41 (62.1)
the study.
4 C. Leys et al. / European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 4 (2020) 100102

Table 2 had more time to cope with the parental divorce. Another
Descriptive Statistics.
explanation could be that, for some children, parental separation
Divorced Parents (DP) Parents Together (PT) t(119) could have positive effects (Amato, 2014). Indeed, some divorced
n = 55 n = 66 (p-value) parents enhance their level of education (with the aim of increasing
HSC_Total 42.95 (12.64) 43.62 (12.44) .30 (.77) their social level or autonomy) and/or the number of social
HSC_Depression 24.80 (8.71) 25.31 (8.49) .33 (.74) interactions after divorce, and some gain in autonomy and in
HSC_Anxiety 18.15 (4.98) 18.30 (4.97) .17 (.86) accomplishments following a divorce (Amato, 2014). Those positive
CNF 15.98 (7.40) 14.05 (6.24) 1.56 (.12)
changes for the parents promote the speed of recovery of their
CDD (n = 42) 20.74 (9.00) N/A N/A
children, which appears to be positively related to people’s access to
M (SD); CDD: Conflict during divorce and is only for DP, but 13 participants did not
financial, social and psychological resources (Amato, 2014).
answer these items; CNF: Conflict in Nuclear Family; HSC_Total: all 25 items of the
scale assessing DAD symptoms; HSC_Depression: 15 items of HSC assessing A second unexpected finding was that participants’ perception
Depression specifically; HSC_Anxiety: 10 items of HSC assessing Anxiety of the level of conflict in the family is not a significant predictor of
specifically. divorce between the parents. Although a non-significant result is
difficult to interpret (e.g. lack of power, psychometric issues. . .), we
propose two theoretical rationales that could account for these
2. Results results. The first is that the children memories of adults might not
reflect the actual level or the actual nature of conflict experienced
2.1. Preliminary analysis by the parents at the time of the divorce (for example, what is
perceived as destructive conflict by the child could as well be
As a preliminary, and exploratory, analysis, we checked the perceived as constructive conflict by the parents). The second is
correlation between the time since the divorce (M = 16.89 years, that the level of conflict is not the main reason to divorce, or to stay
SD = 6.40) and the main outcomes. All effects were of small size together. Further studies should take other key aspects into
and not significant (Anxiety, r = .23, p = .09; Depression, r = .17, account, such as the socio-economic level of the family or the lack
p = .22; Total score of HSC, r = .21, p = .13). Once the children have of support by other family members (e.g., grandparents, relatives).
become adults, we do not see an effect of this predictor on the DAD Amato and Previti (2003) showed that the main cause of divorce is
symptoms. infidelity, followed by drug or drinking use. Hence, although
conflict management has been identified as an important factor in
2.2. Test of hypothesis the incidence of divorce (Gottman, 1994; Gottman & Gottman,
2018), it might not be sufficient for divorcing and even couples
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of our main variables in sustaining a high level of conflict might stay together in many
both DP and PT groups. A t-test comparing the total score of HSC situations.
between DP and PT groups was not significant (Table 2) failing to However, the level of family conflict seems to have long-term
confirm H1. Nor were there any differences in symptoms of anxiety consequences on adults’ DAD, and more specifically on depressive
and depression between the two groups. symptoms, independently of divorce. As the data show, people
A t-test comparing the total score of CNF between DP and PT having grown in conflicted families have significantly more
groups was not significant (Table 2) failing to confirm H2. chances of having higher level of depressive symptoms, although
However, CNF significantly predicted global DAD, r (119) = .21, the effect size is quite small. The small effect size is not that
p = .02, although with a small effect size (4.30% of the explained surprising, indeed, it is likely that depressive symptoms mainly
variance). More specifically, CNF did not significantly predict depends on other factors such as personality traits, situational
anxiety, r (119) = .14, p = .12, but did predict depression r aspects of the adult’s current life, etc.
(119) = .22, p = .02, explaining 4.80% of the variance. Another interesting conclusion is that the level of conflict before
The intragroup analysis among DP revealed a significant link divorce strongly predicts the level of conflict during divorce. Let us
between DAD and the level of CDD r (42) = .44, p = .003, explaining not forget that some of the questions assessing the level of conflict
19.60% of the variance, supporting H3. More specifically, CDD did during divorce related to the extent to which the subject was
not significantly predict anxiety, r (42) = .23, p = .14, but it did emotionally torn between the parents. Thus, having a high level of
significantly predict depression, r (42) = .51, p = .001, explaining conflict in the family prior to divorce seems to increase the
26.11% of the variance. Note that 13 people did not answer the CDD likelihood of involving children in conflicts during the divorce and
items, due to a Limesurvey system interference. We dealt with this to bring them into loyalty conflicts that will predict depression in
issue using pairwise deletion, leaving us with 42 participants adulthood. Note that, this correlation could also be partially
regarding this variable. spurious if participants had difficulties to separate the memories
Lastly, supporting H4, there was a significant link between CDD related to conflict before and during the divorce. But, at least, it
and CNF, r (42) = .79, p < .001, explaining 61.62% of the variance. suggests that the way parents handle conflicts before the divorce is
This shows that although the presence of conflict in the family does perceived as relatively similar than the way the handle conflicts
not predict divorce, when there is a high level of conflict before during the divorce.
divorce, it is likely that the level of conflict during the divorce will This study has some limitations that should be underlined. First,
be high as well, with the converse also being true the measures were self-reported. Therefore, the levels of conflict
assessed were perceived rather than actual; and the HSC scale
measured perceived anxious and depressive symptoms rather than
3. Discussion actual anxious and depressive symptoms (besides, as stated before,
we assessed the symptoms but did not diagnose the disorder).
The first unexpected finding of our study was that divorce had no However, subjective measures are often relevant regarding
visible effect on the level of DAD among adult children. Although psychological well-being, and the HSC scale is conceived to be
this non-significant result does not mean that there is no effect, it is self-reported. Second, perceived conflict between parents and
inconsistent with previous results such as those of Aseltine Jr perceived conflict during divorce were not assessed through
(1996). One explanation for this discrepancy may be that our validated scales. Yet, we ensure that it was a one-factor solution
participants were older than those of Asletine Jr’s study and thus and that the reliability was satisfying. Third, all variables were
 C. Leys et al. / European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 4 (2020) 100102 5

measured rather than being manipulated (i.e., participants were parental figures (Jensen, Lippold, Mills-Koonce, & Fosco, 2017).
obviously not randomly distributed between ‘‘parents divorced’’ Therefore, we invite therapists to also pay attention to the quality
and ‘‘parents together’’ condition). Therefore, the direction of of relationships between the young adults and their stepparents.
causality does not rely on experimental evidence but rather on Bolstering these links might be of great help for children of
theoretical rationales. However, previous studies (e.g. Sandler divorced parents.
et al., 2008) suggest that it is conflict that yields DAD and not DAD Lastly, Authors (Haynes, 1978; Roberts, 2016) suggested a new
that changes the perception of conflict. Fourth, we measured the role for family therapists as divorce mediators. Usually, family
perception of conflict focusing on items that capture the way therapists assist couples with the aim to resolve their problems
children could feel torn between parents, feel insecure and and to stay together. However, helping parents to stay together in
involved in the conflict. However, the study lacks of measure high conflictual relationships appears more deleterious for the
assessing how often the participant witnessed conflict resolution, children than to help parents to separate as harmoniously as
in line with Cummings and Davies (2010) findings that resolved possible. Therefore, the role of family therapist must change by
conflict can have positive outcomes for the children. Although we attempting to make the separation as painless as possible and to
believe that we measured the negative side of the conflict, ensuring reduce the level of conflicts (Haynes, 1978; Roberts, 2016).
that there was a low level of conflict resolution would have Considering this, divorce mediation appears to be a rational
strengthened the results. We suggest adding such a measure in alternative to the adversary system that is generally proposed by
further studies. the attorneys who are generally untrained to resolve the emotional
Nonetheless, the strength of this study compared to previous aspects of divorce (Haynes, 1978; Roberts, 2016).
studies is threesome:
Disclosure of interest

 we compared a group of participants with divorced parents to The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
participants with still married parents;
 we addressed DAD (a disorder with a high impact on public References
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