Parental Divorce and Attitudes toward Marriage and Family Life

Respondents from a national survey of Australians between the ages of 18 and 34 who experienced parental divorce as children were compared with respondents who grew up in continuously intact families or who experienced parental death as children on 8 measures of attitudes toward marriage and family life. Compared with respondents from intact families those from divorced families hold more negative attitudes toward their families of origin. Few differences emerged between groups in their attitudes toward the advantages and disadvantages of marriage living together or singlehood once other family-of-origin variables were statistically controlled. Examination of individual items from a family values scale reveals that adults from divorced families of origin hold relatively complex views of marriage; they value marriage but are aware of its limitations and are tolerant toward its alternatives. (authors)