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SINGAPORE – A landmark study that examined the marital and financial backgrounds of more than 100,000 Singaporeans found that their parents’ divorce caused lasting damage in key areas of their lives.
By age 35, these adult children whose parents divorced before they turned 21 earned less than their peers whose parents stayed together, and they themselves were more likely to divorce, according to the study by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).
The first local study of its kind, entitled Intergenerational Effects of Divorce on Children in Singapore, found that they face long-term “divorce penalties” or disadvantages caused by marital separation from their parents.
The study, published on Tuesday (December 8), found that:
– Children of divorced families were less likely to obtain a college degree. Only 27.8 percent of these children were college graduates, compared with 37 percent of children from intact families.
– Children whose parents divorced earned less than their peers whose parents remained married, and these children have smaller sums in their Central Provident Fund accounts. For example, the average income percentile rank for children from divorced families was 41.8, lower than the 46.7 for children whose parents stayed together.
– Children whose parents separated were also less likely to marry, with 73.6 percent of them getting married when they turned 35. This compares with 75.9 percent of children from intact families.
– Children whose parents are divorced were more likely to divorce themselves, with 21.7 percent ending their marriage when they turned 35. This compares with 13.8 percent of children whose parents remained married.
An MSF spokesperson said that the differences in the two groups of children are statistically significant.
He added: “According to foreign literature on divorce, children who experienced divorce from their parents could face negative consequences even in adulthood. The MSF study aims to examine whether the children of Singaporean divorcees suffer long-term disadvantages. and, if so, the extent of these disadvantages. “
The study examined the economic and marital outcomes of 101,180 Singaporean children born between 1979 and 1981. This is done by studying aggregate data from multiple sources of administrative records and surveys.
Of those studied, the parents of 8.8 percent, that is, 8,880 people, divorced before the child celebrated his 21st birthday.
To ensure that the study was comparing families of similar backgrounds, in addition to the marital status of the parents, the children of divorced families were matched with those whose parents remained married on a variety of demographic characteristics, such as their parents’ age and age. your highest rating at the point of marriage.
The study comes as the number of divorces has risen, with 7,330 divorces last year, up from 6,990 in 2018. About 55 percent of divorces last year involved couples with at least one child under the age of 21.
MSF Minister Masagos Zulkifli said in the study press release: “With this landmark study, we now know that the effects of divorce on a child are not temporary and have an impact on the child’s future, their education and their life. family when you get married. That’s why after divorce, positive co-parenting is very important. “
Sociologists and counselors interviewed suggest some factors in divorce that negatively affect children.
Paulin Straughan, a sociologist at Singapore Management University, said: “With each dissolution of marriage, there is a high probability that the well-being of the family unit (in terms of economic, social and emotional assets) will be reduced.”
The often prolonged stresses in the family, along with reduced financial and emotional resources as a result of divorce, affect the child in different ways, from performing well in school to managing relationships and conflicts, he said.
Professor Jean Yeung, founding director of the Center for Research on Family and Population at the National University of Singapore, cautioned that it cannot be concluded from the study that divorce causes worse outcomes for children. This is because there are many other variables that make both divorce and children worse that cannot be ruled out.
These variables could include circumstances and personal characteristics that lead to increased stress within the family, for example leading to divorce, and also to lower academic and other achievements of the child.
Professor Yeung explained, “Therefore, the lower performance of the child is not caused by divorce, although it can be exacerbated by divorce.”
The study stated the same, saying: “While the results may not strictly inform us of the causal impact of divorce, they provide an indicative sense of the long-term outcomes for children associated with parental divorce, which in turn would help. to inform interventions for children when couples file for divorce. “
Institute for Policy Studies principal investigator Mathew Mathews noted that not all children who come from a divorced family are affected in the same way.
He said: “The availability of adequate support perhaps from the extended family and the community can mediate the extent of the negative effects that children experience after divorce.”
The report said that to mitigate the negative impact of divorces, efforts to help couples build strong marriages and interventions to help children adjust to life after their parents’ divorce are important.
MSF and its community partners run a suite of services, from marriage preparation programs to help couples prepare for their lives together, to free online counseling for those facing marital problems, to six divorce support agencies providing specialized help to couples breaking up.
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