Consequences of Divorce‐Based Father Absence During Childhood for Young Adult Well‐Being and Romantic Relationships

• Published date: 01 April 2021
• Author: Hanita Reuven‐Krispin,Dana Lassri,Patrick Luyten,Golan Shahar
• Date: 01 April 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12516

H R-KBen-Gurion University of the Negev

D LThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem and UCL

P LKU Leuven and UCL

G SBen-Gurion University of the Negev

Consequences of Divorce-Based Father Absence

During Childhood for Young Adult Well-Being and

Romantic Relationships

Objective: This research explores the implica-

tions of father absence due to divorce on young

adults’ well-being and romantic relationships.

Background: Studies have demonstrated the

negative implications of father absence, a com-

mon consequence of divorce, on children’s

development. However, previous research has

not systematically compared complete versus

partial father absence.

Method: Young adults who, as children, expe-

rienced complete (n=38) or partial (n=41)

father absence were compared with 40 partici-

pants in a father-presence control group.

Results: Compared with those in the control

group,youngadults in the partial father-absence

The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social

Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Mt Scopus,

Jerusalem 91905, Israel (dana.lassri@mail.huji.ac.il).

© 2020 The Authors. Family Relations published by Wiley

Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family

Relations.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribu-

tion and reproduction in any medium, provided the original

work is properly cited.

Key Words: divorce, father absence, psychopathology,

romantic relationships, young adulthood.

group reported higher psychopathology and

maternal overprotection, and lower maternal

care, romantic intimacy, commitment, and

passion. Under elevated maternal care, the

partial-absence group reported lower dyadic

adjustment and consolidated sense of identity.

Participants in the complete-absence group

reported higher self-criticism and maternal

overprotection and lower maternal care than

controls.

Conclusion: Partial father absence might have

particularly pernicious consequences for young

adults’ well-being.

Implications: Clinical and public policy impli-

cations are discussed.

Divorce constitutes a severe family stress or

(Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 1999) that is

often associated with maladjustment in chil-

dren of all ages (Amato, 2001, 2010; Amato

& Dorius, 2010; Bernardi & Radl, 2014; Cum-

mings & Davies, 2010; Harold & Leve, 2012;

Hetherington et al., 1998). One of the major con-

sequences of divorce for children is the departure

of one parent, most commonly the father, from

the household (Ahrons & Tanner, 2003; Braver

et al., 1993). Although public policies and case

law recommend continuing contact with both

452Family Relations 70 (April 2021): 452–466

DOI:10.1111/fare.12516