Is It Family Structure or Socioeconomic Status? Family Structure During Adolescence and Adult Adjustment

This study investigates the long-term effects of family structure during adolescence on adult adjustment, using data from the 1972-1986 General Social Surveys. Men and women from intact families, mother-headed single-parent families, and reconstituted families are compared, taking into account whether parents' marital disruption resulted from divorce or the father's death. We find that the long-term effects of family disruption on adult adjustment do not differ by gender. When socioeconomic status during adolescence and current socioeconomic status are controlled, a few adverse effects of parents' divorce, but no effects of father's death remain. Moreover, the effects of divorce depend on whether the adult lived with the mother only or with the mother and a stepfather. Socioeconomic status during adolescence and current socioeconomic status affect nearly all aspects of adult adjustment. The high divorce rate in the United States during the last two decades has generated widespread concern about the impact of family structure on personal and social adjustment. Most research has focused on the impact of the father's absence (Demo & Acock 1988), while less is known about the effects of living in reconstituted families, whether the reason for the absence of the biological father matters, whether adverse long-term psychological consequences are more severe for men or women, or the importance of family structure compared with that of socioeconomic status.