Adolescents' Attitudes toward Marriage and Marital Prospects after Parental Divorce: A Review

Studies of the long-term influence of parental divorce on adolescents' attitudes toward marriage and actual marriage patterns are reviewed. It is suggested that certain circumstances of parental divorce are associated with more negative views of marriage (particularly if divorce is associated withparental conflictand deterioratingparent-child relationships). However, it is likely that parental divorce has the opposite indirect effect of increasing the likelihood of early marriage for some children of divorce via lowered educational prospects and subsequently reduced socioeconomic status, early homeleaving, and earlier involvement in heterosexual relationships. Possible alternative reasons for these divergent trends in attitudes toward marriage and marital prospects of children of divorce are discussed. First, whether some adolescents hold negative attitudes toward marriage and remain single, whereas others marry early; second, whether initially negative attitudes toward marriage change as a result of the adolescent's experience of heterosexual relationships and entry into adulthood.