MARITAL ADAPTATION, DIVORCE, AND PARENT-INFANT DEVELOPMENT - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

In this prospective study of divorce in the first 4 years of life we h ave shown that previous marital patterns anticipate the occurrence of divorce and influence the response to that event. Most of the divorces occurred in marriages that were consistently low in satisfaction or d ecreased in satisfaction from birth on. The family response to the eve nt differed. The continuing effort at conflict resolution and the fact that differing levels of adjustment are reached at different time poi nts are suggested by these reactions. For couples with an unsatisfacto ry marriage from late pregnancy through the first 2 years (consistentl y low), the immediate and sustained impact of divorce was to enhance t he parent's responsiveness to the needs of their infant and the infant 's expectation of bring cared for. This was not true for couples decre asing from high to lower satisfaction in their adaptation. However, by child age 4, when all families had been divorced for 1 year, divorce versus no divorce was associated with a differential positive effect o n teacher Q-sort ratings of the children for both marital patterns. Ch ildren who were from families where the parents were in conflict but d id not divorce were more likely to externalize control. were more ofte n uncontrolled, and were more anti-as opposed to prosocial. The implic ation of these Endings are discussed.