Support of the Parent When an Adult Son or Daughter Divorces

The impact of a son or daughter's divorce on the older parent has been neglected by researchers and practitioners. Because of the greater needs of the divorcing couple, the impact of divorce on their parents has been largely ignored. Such a divorce may have far reaching implications for the older parent-adult child relationship. Support to the parent primarily from individual friends, other family or clergy may be affected by the view of divorce that these groups hold. Much of the existing literature on divorce focuses almost exclusively on the impact of divorce on the spouses. One could conclude that the divorce of adult sons or daughters is not problemmatic for the parents. We take issue with that conclusion and in the discussion which follows offer evidence and speculation to support our thesis.