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Breaking up. How specific characteristics of the divorce process interact with the wellbeing of ex-partners after divor

Sara Symoens & Piet Bracke Ghent University. Breaking up. How specific characteristics of the divorce process interact with the wellbeing of ex-partners after divorce. 8 th meeting of the European Network for the Sociological and Demographic Studies of Divorce – oct.2010. Introduction.

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Breaking up. How specific characteristics of the divorce process interact with the wellbeing of ex-partners after divor

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  1. Sara Symoens & Piet Bracke GhentUniversity Breaking up. How specific characteristics of the divorce process interact with the wellbeing of ex-partners after divorce. 8th meeting of the European Network for the Sociological and Demographic Studies of Divorce – oct.2010

  2. Introduction • total divorce ratio for Belgium +-50% • research on divorce and wellbeing: depression, anxiety, stress, life-satisfaction,… social-relational and socio-economic factors (stress- and coping th.) • fordifferencesbetween the married and divorced • but how to explain remaining differences in adaptation within the group of the divorcees? • impact of the divorce trajectory itself?

  3. Impact of the divorce process • Extending stress and coping theorieswithcharacteristics of the divorceprocess • indicators of time and duration • Time since the divorce (chronicstrainor stress?) • Duration of the divorceprocess (-) • process-related indicators • Initiation (+) • Perception of fairness (division of goods) (+) • Conflict (relieforstrain?) • process related post–divorce indicators • quality of the relationshipwith the ex-spouse (+)

  4. Gender, divorce and mental health • Women consistently report higher levels of distress, and lower levels of wellbeing • Genderdifferentialeffects of characteristics of the divorceprocess? • Gender-roletheories: id. of women << social relationships and how well they are able to form and maintain these id. of men << individualisation and personal achievement => genderdifferences for conflict, relationship-quality and initiation?

  5. Research questions • “What is the impact of the divorce process? Are quick divorces better? Does time heal? And what is the impact of initiation, conflict, or the (un)fairness of the division of goods? Can we detect ‘model’ trajectories? Or gender-differential effects?” • In social research: one indicator, or ad-hoc • Important for policy-makers!

  6. Data, methods & variables • Data • the ‘Divorce in Flanders’-project, 2009-10 www.divorceinflanders.be • Multi-actor & divorce specific (preliminary) data • 1624 men & 1946 women, aged 25-60

  7. Methods • Linear regression models, women and men separately • 2 analyses: (1) mental health differences married versus divorced, (2) mental health differences between divorcees • PASW 18.0.

  8. Variables • Y= depression (CES-D8) & life-satisfaction (0-10) • X= time since divorce; duration of the legal procedure; initiation (yes-no); level of conflict during divorce (3 catn); perception of fairness (3 catn) & current relationship quality (3catn + no contact) • C = age; new partner; kids & education

  9. Results 1. Differences in mental health by marital state

  10. Results 1. Differences in mental health by marital state

  11. Conclusion 1 • Divorced men and women: worse mental health scores than the married on both depression and life-satisfaction. • However, it is the absence of a partner, rather than the experience of the divorce. 2. Impact of the divorce process

  12. Conclusion 2 • All process-indicators have some impact, though a new partner remainsvery important • Women: mental health mainly related to issues of relationship quality (conflict during divorce and current contact with ex). Men: wellbeing is more affected by circumstances involving power (taking the initiative) or facilitating closure (time since divorce, duration divorce process). Initiation and having no more contact: important for women to. So not clear cut. • Indication that stress theories hold for men, but that chronic strain hypotheses are more relevant for women!

  13. Limitations • Crosssectional data, limited dataset • Dyadicdata-structurenotused (forfurther analyses) • Onlyfirst-divorceesincluded • Further research neededonmediation, custody, …

  14. Strenghts • (a) focus on the impact of different characteristics of the divorce process • (b) use of a divorce-specialized dataset, • (c) two distinct indicators of mental health (depression as an indicator of distress, life satisfaction as an indicator of wellbeing), • (d) some interesting conclusions on which further research can build.

  15. Sara Symoens & Prof. Piet Bracke Ghent University, department of Sociology Korte Meer 5, 9000 Ghent BELGIUM Sara.Symoens@UGent.be Piet.Bracke@UGent.be

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