Copyright 2000 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

0893-32OO/O0/$5.OO
DOI: 10.1O37//0893-3200.14.2.3O4

Journal of Family Psychology

2000, Vol. 14, No. 2, 304-326

Effects of Parental Separation and Divorce

on Very Young Children
K. Alison Clarke-Stewart

Deborah L. Vandell

University of California, Irvine

University of WisconsinMadison

Kathleen McCartney

Margaret T. Owen

University of New Hampshire

University of Texas at Dallas

Cathryn Booth
University of Washington
Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of
Early Child Care were analyzed to explore effects of marital separation on children
in the first 3 years of life. The sample included 73 never-married mothers and 97
separated mothers; a comparison group of 170 was conditionally randomly selected
from the 2-parent families. Children in 2-parent families performed better than
children in 1-parent families on assessments of cognitive and social abilities,
problem behavior, attachment security, and behavior with mother. However, controlling for mothers' education and family income reduced these differences, and
associations with separated-intact marital status were nonsignificant (the effect size
was .01). Thus, children's psychological development was not affected by parental
separation per se; it was related to mothers' income, education, ethnicity, childrearing beliefs, depressive symptoms, and behavior.
Today, in the United States, 20 million children are living with just one parent (U.S. BuK. Alison Clarke-Stewart, Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California,
Irvine; Deborah L. Vandell, Center for Education
Research, University of WisconsinMadison; Kathleen McCartney, Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire; Margaret T. Owen, School
of Human Development, University of Texas at Dallas; Cathryn Booth, Department of Family and Child
Nursing, University of Washington.
This study is part of the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of
Early Child Care. We acknowledge the generous
support of the NICHD. We also thank our coinvestigators in the Study of Early Child Care, the site
coordinators and research assistants who collected
the data, and the families and teachers who continue
to participate in this longitudinal study.
Correspondence concerning this article should be
addressed to K. Alison Clarke-Stewart, Department
of Psychology and Social Behavior, Social Ecology
II 3340, University of California, Irvine, California
92697.

reau of the Census, 1998), and demographers

predict that about half of America's youth will
spend some part of their childhood in a oneparent family (Ahlburg & DeVita, 1992). Although a slight decline in the divorce rate has
occurred in recent years, more than 1 million
children still experience the divorce of their
parents each year (U.S. Bureau of the Census,
1995), and in addition, nearly one birth in three
is to an unmarried mother (Bumpass & Raley,
1995).
Because divorce and single motherhood are
so common, it is important to know whether the
psychological development of these children,
compared with those in intact married families,
is at risk. Scores of researchers have studied the
effects of divorce on school-age children and
adolescents, and there is a growing literature
focused on the effects of parental divorce on
adult children. The consequences for very
young children have been less widely studied,
however, and research on the effects of divorce
on infants is virtually absent. It was our purpose

304

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE

305

in the present study to redress this imbalance by

investigating the effects of parental divorce and
single motherhood on infants and very young
children.

and duration of these problems, because children's responses to parental marital transitions
vary widely (Amato, 1994).

Effects of Divorce on Children

Variation in Effects of Divorce With

Child's Age: Are Preschool-Age
Children Affected More?

There is ample research evidence that parental divorce can have detrimental effects on
school-age children and adolescents. National
surveys (Allison & Furstenberg, 1989; Cherlin
et id., 1991; Downey, 1994; Guidubaldi, Perry,
& Nastasi, 1987), other large-scale studies (Simons, 1996), research reviews (Amato, 1994;
McLanahan & Teitler, 1999), and metaanalyses (Amato & Keith, 1991; Love-Clark,
1984) all have revealed negative associations
between divorce and children's school achievement, self-esteem, and psychological adjustment. Children from divorced families have
more behavior problems, more social difficulties, more psychological distress, and poorer
academic performance; adolescents from divorced families are more likely to engage in
delinquent behavior and early sex and to exhibit
emotional distress and academic difficulties. In
addition, adults who experienced their parents'
divorce when they were children, compared
with those from continuously intact two-parent
families, score lower on indicators of psychological, interpersonal, and socioeconomic wellbeing, such as educational attainment, nonmarital childbearing, and early labor force
participation (Cherlin, Chase-Lansdale, &
McRae, 1998; Conger & Chao, 1996; Hetherington, Bridges, & Insabella, 1998).
Associations in this body of research are statistically significant and quite consistent. For
example, in the National Association of School
Psychologists study of schoolchildren (Guidubaldi et al., 1987), with family income and
parental education statistically controlled, children from intact families performed significantly better than children from divorced families on school achievement and on 16
classroom-behavior ratings. In Amato and
Keith's (1991) meta-analysis, differences were
observed in 70% of the 92 studies available.
However, although differences are consistent
across studies, pervasive across measures, long
lasting across time, and statistically significant,
little agreement exists about the extent, severity,

There is some evidence that divorce may be

particularly difficult for very young children. In
a study of children receiving outpatient treatment, Kalter and Rembar (1981) found that
children who were younger (toddler or preschool age) at the time of the marital disruption
were more severely emotionally disturbed than
those who were older (school age). In the nationally representative sample of 7- to 11-yearold children in the National Survey of Children,
Allison and Furstenberg (1989) found that effects of marital disruption on behavior problems, psychological distress, and academic performance were larger for children who were
under age 5 at the time of the marital dissolution. Howell, Portes, and Brown (1997) observed that in a sample of 5- to 16-year-old
children whose parents had separated in the
previous year, those who were younger exhibited poorer adjustment and lower self-esteem.
Finally, in a longitudinal sample of Canadian
children followed from age 6 to age 12, Pagani,
Boulerice, Tremblay, and Vitaro (1997) found
that children who experienced parental divorce
before age 6 exhibited more behavioral disturbance than children whose parents divorced
later. Even controlling for predivorce and premarriage factors, these children became more
anxious, hyperactive, and oppositional over the
course of middle childhood.
As well as these studies showing an association between the severity of divorce effects and
children's age, there are studies of preschool
childrenwithout an older group for
comparisonthat demonstrate detrimental consequences of divorce in the 2 years following
the separation. These effects are evident in children's play and social relations (Hetherington,
Cox, & Cox, 1979), behavior problems, task
orientation, adjustment at preschool (Hodges,
Buchsbaum, & Tierney, 1983), emotional wellbeing, sociability, and self-confidence (Peretti
& di Vitorrio, 1993).

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CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

Amato and Keith (1991) concluded from

their meta-analysis that younger children were
affected by their parents' divorce less than older
children. However, their analyses were based on
the children's ages at the time of assessment,
not the time their parents separated. It is important not to confuse the two because it may be
that early or immediate strong effects dissipate
with time. In her longitudinal study, Wallerstein
(Wallerstein & Blakeslee, 1989; Wallerstein &
Kelly, 1980) found that 2- to 5-year-old children were profoundly upset, needy, frightened,
confused, and regressive at the time of their
parents' divorce. They exhibited acute separation anxiety, aggression, nightmares, eating disturbances, and bed-wetting. Of all the children
in the sample, these youngest children were
most upset by the family crisis. Five years after
the divorce, however, age at the time of the
marital dissolution was no longer related to the
children's well-being, and 10 years after the
divorce, the youngest children were doing better
than their older siblings. It is important to examine the well-being of very young children at
the time of the marital separation to look for
these immediate emotional effects.
This population of infants and very young
children may have been neglected in previous
research because researchers believe that divorce is unlikely to affect children who have not
yet formed a strong relationship with both their
parents (Bowlby, 1969). Perhaps they have assumed that in the first few years of life children
do not have as strong a need for a father figure
(the parent who is most likely to be unavailable
after divorce). On the other hand, theory suggests that loss of a parent at 18 to 36 months of
agewhich would be the result if one parent
did not stay involved with the child as usually
happenswould affect the child's separationindividuation process (Toomin, 1974) and thus
might have a stronger effect on young children.
Amato and Keith (1991) did not have as
many studies of young children as studies of
older children available to include in their analyses. For example, there were only 7 studies of
preschoolers' conduct problems compared with
23 studies of primary school children. Furthermore, in their meta-analysis, although the divorce effect was not as statistically significant
for the younger children (for preschoolers, p <
.05; for primary school children, p < .001), the

mean effect size was larger (for preschoolers,

the effect size was .25; for primary school
children, the effect size was .19). Thus
Amato and Keith's meta-analysis does not
convincingly rule out the possibility that
young children may be more strongly affected
by their parents' divorce than older children.
The extent to which very young children are
affected by divorce remains an open and important question. This question is addressed
by the present study.
Differences Between Parents Who
Divorce and Parents Who Stay Married
One of the difficulties in determining how
divorce affects children is that these children
have different experiences from those in intact
families even before the marriage breaks up.
Divorcing mothers are more likely than mothers
in intact families to be African American; they
are younger when they get married, less likely
to have completed college, and economically
poorer (Cherlin, 1992; Emery, 1998). Moreover, their interactions with their husbands are
not as good (Amato & Rogers, 1997). Increasingly, the effects of divorce are seen as reflecting not only the stress of breakup and its aftermath, but also dysfunctional family processes,
disordered personalities, and marital conflict
preceding the breakup (Morrison & Cherlin,
1995). Conflict occurring before the divorce
may cause much of the behavioral disturbance
exhibited by children after the divorce. In their
meta-analyses, Amato and Keith (1991) found
that children in high-conflict, intact families
scored lower in assessments of their psychological adjustment and self-concept than either
children in low-conflict, intact families or children in divorced families, and conflict was more
closely related to children's well-being than
was marital status. However, conflict does not
carry the variance in every study: Allison and
Furstenberg (1989) found more significant associations in the National Survey of Children
for divorce than for conflict, some of them
significantly larger. Another goal of the
present study was to investigate the significance of predisruption marital conflict and
demographic differences between separated
and intact families.

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE

Differences in Families After Marital

Separation That May Mediate
Divorce Effects
Differences in families following the marital
breakup have also been associated with effects
of divorce on children (Amato, 1994). Three
areas in particular have been identified as relevant. These are (a) economic hardship, (b)
mothers' psychological distress, and (c) diminished parenting. Another goal of the present
study was to examine the associations between
child outcomes and these three factors, before
and after the marital disruption.

Economic Hardship
It is common for women, especially, to experience a drop in household income after divorce (Day & Bahr, 1986), and this drop in
income, often to a less than adequate level, has
been found to lead to stress and depression in
mothers (Clarke-Stewart & Bailey, 1989) and
psychological problems in children (Amato &
Keith, 1991; McLanahan & Teitler, 1999).
When income level is statistically controlled,
the detrimental effects of divorce on children's
behavior appear substantially less (Guidubaldi
et al., 1987), although they do not disappear
(McLanahan & Teitler, 1999).

Psychological Distress
Most women experiencing family dissolution
report increased distress, depression, loneliness,
regret, lack of control, helplessness, and anger.
These psychological symptoms are not simply
acute responses to immediate stress; for many
women, emotional distress continues for several
years after the separation (Lamb, Steinberg, &
Thompson, 1999; Pett, Wampold, Turner, &
Vaughan-Cole, 1999). The more depressed and
anxious mothers are, the more severe are their
children's problems (Clarke-Stewart & Hayward, 1996).

Diminished Parenting
Economic hardship and emotional distress
can lead to reduced parenting ability in divorced
mothers (Clarke-Stewart & Hayward, 1996;
Hetherington, 1993; Simons, 1996), and less

307

adequate parenting among divorced mothers

has been associated with detrimental effects on
their children (McLanahan & Teitler, 1999; Pett
et al., 1999). Researchers have observed significant differences between divorced and married
mothers in the support and stimulation they
provide for their children (Karr & Easley, 1986;
MacKinnon, Brody, & Stoneman, 1982, 1986),
the degree to which they provide affection and
consistent discipline (Hetherington, Cox, &
Cox, 1982), and the amount of negative control
they exert (Pett et al., 1999). These differences,
however, may have existed prior to the divorce.
In their prospective analysis of the consequences of marital disruption in the National
Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement, Morrison and Cherlin (1995) did not find
that the quality of mothering decreased. Moreover, differences in parental behavior have not
been observed in every study of divorced and
intact families. Hodges et al. (1983) found no
difference in parental discipline, and Rosenthal,
Leigh, and Elardo (1985/1986) observed no difference in the quality of parenting measured
with the Home Observation for Measurement of
the Environment (HOME) inventory.
Is It Divorce That Affects Children or Is
It Being With a Single Mother?
An important issue in trying to understand
the effects of divorce on children is whether the
observed differences in children's behavior are
a function of marital separation or a consequence of growing up in a one-parent household. For this reason, it is useful to compare the
development of children in separated and divorced families with that of children hi single,
never-married families. Never-married, single
mothers are likely to be even more economically disadvantaged than divorced women. Half
of all single mothers live in poverty, and their
median family income is half that of divorced
mothers (Bianchi, 1995). Single mothers are
younger and less educated than divorced mothers (Bianchi, 1995) and more likely to be African American (U.S. Bureau of the Census,
1986). They also have more psychological
problems. In a small study by Weinraub and
Gringlas (1995), single mothers reported more
difficulties with finances, daily hassles, and
stresses relating to employment than married
mothers. They claimed they received less emo-

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CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

tional and parenting support, and they were

observed to have more difficulty exercising
control and making appropriate demands with
their preschool sons. In turn, the boys were less
compliant as preschoolers and as preadolescents
had more behavior problems, lower social competence, and poorer school performance than
children of married mothers. Dawson (1991)
found that the rate of school failure was 12% for
children with two parents, 16% for children
with separated or divorced parents, and 20% for
children with single mothers. It was another
goal of the present study to compare the experiences and development of children in separated and divorced families with that of children
in single, never-married families in order to
help clarify the effects of single motherhood
versus divorce on the psychological well-being
of young children.

Are "Divorce Effects" Apparent Even

Before the Separation? Predisruption
Differences in Children's Behavior
Yet another issue in the investigation of divorce effects is whether differences in children's behavior and development precede the
marital breakup. The results of several studies
suggest that the behavior problems children exhibit at the time of divorce or subsequently are,
in fact, present years before the separation. This
may be the result of (a) predivorce family stress,
(b) children's behavior problems contributing to
the demise of the parents' marriage, or (c) more
difficult parentswho can't get along with a
spousepassing on this characteristic to their
offspring by means of modeling or heredity.
Predisruption differences in children's behavior were first discovered by Block, Block,
and Gjerde (1986). In their longitudinal study,
children were assessed at ages 3, 4, 7, and 14
years. By age 14, 41 of the 100 children were
living in separated or divorced families. Looking back into their data files, Block et al. discovered that the boys from subsequently divorcing families were less considerate of other
children and more emotionally Labile and stubborn at age 3 and more undercontrolled, impulsive, aggressive, and excessively energetic at
age 7. Unfortunately, in this sample, the number
of boys whose parents divorced was small (n =

8). In several subsequent studies with larger

samples, other researchers have replicated
Block et al.'s results. Jenkins and Smith (1993)
found that children whose parents later divorced
showed higher levels of disturbance, such as
anxiety, sadness, fears, sleep problems, getting
into trouble, and aggression, in middle childhood, than children in harmonious homes.
Amato and Booth (1996) found that parents*
reports of problems in their relationships with
their children in a national, longitudinal study
were significantly elevated as early as 8 to 12
years prior to the divorce. Cherlin et al. (1991)
found that the apparent effect of divorce on
boys' behavior problems and achievement was
sharply reduced by considering the boys' behavior problems and achievement levels and
family difficulties present prior to the divorce.
However, not every study has revealed predisruption differences in children's behavior. Allison and Furstenberg (1989) found no such differences in parents', teachers', and children's
reports of behavior problems, psychological
distress, and academic performance in a sample
of 7- to 11-year-olds. Another goal of the
present study was to investigate whether predisruption differences in children's behavior are
evident in very young children.

Are Boys or Girls More Vulnerable

to Divorce Effects? Interactions
With Gender
Finally, the study of divorce effects is complicated by the possibility that boys and girls
respond differently to marital disruption. In previous research it has been observed quite consistently that boys are more affected than girls
by their parents7 divorce. Preschool girls recover from marital disruption more quickly,
whereas boys continue to exhibit emotional distress, behavior problems, and lower cognitive
performance (Hetherington et al., 1979, 1982;
Wallerstein & Blakeslee, 1989; Wallerstein &
Kelly, 1980). In a comprehensive review of 27
studies of the effects of divorce on children's
social and emotional well-being, Zaslow (1988)
found that boys were more negatively affected
than girls in 16 studies, and girls were worse off
in only 5 studies. This trend continued in research conducted since Zaslow's review, which

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EFFECTS OF DIVORCE
has also shown that school-age boys from divorced families were worse off in terms of
emotional distress and academic difficulties (Simons, 1996), divorce adjustment and selfesteem (Howell et al., 1997), and behavior
problems (Jenkins & Smith, 1993; Mott,
Kowaleski-Jones, & Meneghan, 1997; Simons,
1996). In Amato and Keith's (1991) metaanalysis, effects on achievement and psychological adjustment were stronger for girls and effects on social adjustment and mother-child
relations were stronger for boys. The final goal
of the present study was to investigate whether
parental separation affected boys and girls
differently.

Contributions of This Study to Increased

Knowledge About Divorce and
Young Children
A few years ago, a conference sponsored by
the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development (NICHD) was held to
evaluate existing knowledge about how children are affected by parental divorce. At the
conclusion of the conference, participants prepared a statement suggesting that what was
needed next was a longitudinal investigation of
a large sample of normal children. This investigation would begin before the parents' divorce, so that the effects of pre- and postdisruption circumstances could be separated (Lamb et
al., 1999).
The NICHD Study of Early Child Care offered an opportunity to investigate the effects of
divorce in such a sample. More than 1,000
children in nine different states participated in
the study from birth through age 3. The sample
was diverse in terms of parents' ethnicity, education, and income, and it included a relatively
substantial number of never-married and separated or divorced families. The children and
their parents were assessed repeatedly over the
period, providing information about children's
and parents' functioning before and after marital disruption. Assessments were made within a
year of the marital disruption, whereas in most
other studies the delay has been longer or
has varied within the sample, and children were
all assessed at the same ages, so that age of
assessment was not confounded with age at
separation.

The specific goals of the study were the following: (a) to investigate the effects of parental
separation and divorce on the psychological development of very young children, (b) to compare the effects of marital separation with the
effects of living in a single-parent family, (c) to
examine the consequences of marital separation
on children's functioning immediately after the
separation, (d) to determine whether differences
in children's behavior precede marital disruption, (e) to explore the effects of maternal background characteristics and maternal behavior
before and after marital separation on child outcomes as a frame of reference for interpreting
the effects of separation and divorce, and (f) to
determine whether there are gender differences
in children's reactions to parental separation or
divorce at this young age.

Method
Participants
Participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child
Care were recruited during the first 11 months of
1991 from hospitals at 10 research sites that were
located in or near Little Rock, AK; Irvine, CA; Lawrence, KS; Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PN; Pittsburgh, PN; Charlottesville, VA; Morganton, NC; Seattle, WA; and Madison, WI. During selected
sampling periods, all women giving birth in each
hospital were screened. Mothers were excluded if
they were giving the baby up for adoption, had medical complications, were under 18 years of age, did
not speak English, planned to move within the next
year, lived outside the area or in a neighborhood
considered unsafe for visits, had a multiple birth, or
had a baby who had medical complications. A total of
8,986 women were screened in the hospital; 5,416
were eligible and agreed to be called in 2 weeks. A
conditionally random sample of 3,015 was selected
from the eligible list. The conditioning assured representation of at least 10% of single-parent households, mothers with less than a high school education, and ethnic minority mothers. Additional
screening was conducted at the 2-week phone call to
exclude families planning to move within the next 3
years and infants who had stayed in the hospital for
more than 1 week after birth. A total of 1,526 mothers were eligible and agreed to the 1-month interview; 1,384 of these mothers completed the 1-month
interview and were enrolled in the study. The resulting sample was diverse, including 24% ethnic minority children, 10% mothers without a high school
education, 14% single mothers, and 34% poor or near

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CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

poor families (income-to-needs ratio < 2). The recruited families were similar to the eligible families
in the catchment hospitals on all these demographic
variables. Of the 1,364 families who began the study,
1,216 (89%) continued through 36 months.
The sample for the present study (N = 340) consisted of three groups: (a) single, never-married families defined as all tie families in the NICHD sample
in which the mother was not married to or living with
the child's father at the time of the child's birth and
who remained single until the child was 36 months
old (n = 73; 33 boys and 40 girls). Of the mothers in
the sample who were single at the birth, 30 dropped
out of the study by 36 months, and 164 became
married or partnered by that time, (b) Separateddivorced families, defined as all the families in which
the parents had separated or divorced by the time the
child was 36 months old ( = 97; 52 boys and 45
girls), (c) Intact married families, defined as a comparison group equal in size to the combined single
and separated-divorced groups ( = 170, 88 boys
and 82 girls), consisting of families in which the
parents remained married and living in the same
household throughout the child's first 3 years of life.
This comparison group was randomly selected from
the intact married families in the total sample (n =
870) matched to the separated-divorced and single
families on one variableresearch site. Because ethnicity and site are significantly related (Fisher's exact
test = 129, p < .001), this selection also provided
some comparability in terms of ethnicity. Sample
sizes for the 10 different sites were as follows: Arkansas, 46; California, 40; Kansas, 24; Massachusetts, 34; Philadelphia, 28; Pittsburgh, 38; Virginia,
22; North Carolina, 48; Washington, 26; and Wisconsin, 34.
The distribution of ethnic-racial groups in the
study sample was as follows: White non-Hispanic,
262 (77%); African American, 54 (16%); Hispanic,
16 (5%); Asian American, 3 (1%); other ethnic-racial
groups, 5 (1%). The distribution of mothers' educational backgrounds was as follows: less than high
school graduation, 43 (13%); high school diploma,
82 (24%); some college, 115 (34%); bachelor's degree, 60 (18%); and graduate training or degree, 40
(12%).

Child Outcome Variables

Cognitive ability. Children's cognitive ability
was assessed with the Bayley Scale of Mental Development (Bayley, 1969) at 15 months, the revised
Bayley Scale of Mental Development (Bayley, 1993)
at 24 months, and the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (Reynell, 1991) at 36 months. The
Bayley test measures sensory perceptual acuity and
discrimination; memory, learning, and problem solv-

ing; verbal communication; and the ability to form

generalizations and classifications. It is the most
widely used measure of cognitive developmental status for children in the first 2 years of life. The Reynell
test measures the child's verbal comprehension and
expressive language; for the verbal comprehension
scale, a = .93, and for the expressive language scale,
a = .86; the correlation between the scales is .76.
Social ability. Children's social ability was assessed by the Expressive behavior scale of the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory (ASBI; Hogan, Scott,
& Bauer, 1992). This scale is based on a questionnaire completed by the mother at 24 and 36 months.
The scale (13 items) taps sociability and empathy
(as .77 and .76) and has good concurrent validity
(Hogan et al., 1992).
Behavior problems. Infants* behavior problems
were assessed by means of the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (Carey & McDevitt, 1978) at
6 months. The mother completed this questionnaire,
which included 55 items from five temperament
scales, Activity, Intensity, Mood, Adaptability, and
Approach (a = .81). Infants with more difficult
temperamentsmore active, intense, negative in
mood, and less adaptable and ready to approach
received higher scores. Behavior problems at 24 and
36 months were assessed with the Child Behavior
Checklist-2/3 (CBCL; Achenbach, Edelbrock, &
Howell, 1987) and the ASBI (Hogan et al., 1992),
which were both completed by the mother. The
CBCL lists 99 behaviors, and respondents indicate
how characteristic each has been of the child over the
last 2 months (0 = not true, 1 = sometimes true, 2 =
very true). It is reported to show good test-retest
reliability and concurrent and predictive validity; it
discriminates between clinically referred and nonreferred toddlers and predicts problem scores over a
3-year period (Achenbach et al., 1987). Internalizing
and Externalizing behavior problem scales from the
CBCL and Disruptive and Compliance scales (7 and
10 items) from the ASBI were composited (with
Compliance reversed), alpha was .83 at 24 months
and .80 at 36 months. (These separate scales were too
closely correlated to analyze separately, so it was not
possible to look for differences in divorce effects
related specifically to internalizing versus externalizing behavior problems.)
Attachment to mother. The child's attachment to
mother at 15 months was assessed in Ainsworth's
Strange Situation (SS; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, &
Wall, 1978). Videotapes of the SS were coded by
trained coders into Ainsworth's attachment classifications (A = avoidant, B = secure, and C = resistant) and subtypes (Al, A2, Bl, B2, B3, B4, Cl, C2);
interobserver agreement (Cohen's K) was .76 for
ABC categories and .66 for subcategories. The level
of security of the child's attachment was determined
by calculating (and inversing) the deviation of the

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE
child's attachment subtype from the most secure attachment subtype, B3. At 24 months, the security of
the child's attachment was assessed using the Attachment Q-Set (Waters & Deane, 1985) after 2 hours of
observation of mother and child at home. Trained
observers sorted 90 cards into a fixed distribution of
piles ranging from most descriptive to least descriptive of the child, and the correlation between the
resulting profile and the profile of a prototypically
secure child indexed the security of lie child's attachment. The average agreement between the scores
of trained observers and master-coded videotapes
was .77. At 36 months, children participated in a
modified SS (Cassidy, Marvin, & the MacArthur
Working Group on Attachment, 1992). Videotape
coders certified by Cassidy (agreement greater than
75%) rated the security of children's attachment in
the modified SS on a scale ranging from 1 to 9.
Positive and negative behavior with mother.
Mother-child interaction was videotaped in semistructured, 15-min observations, in which mothers
were asked to play with the child with toys provided
by study personnel, at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months.
Trained coders rated the child's positive mood and
negative mood at 6 months, engagement with mother
and negative mood at 15 and 24 months, and affection toward mother and negativity at 36 months on
4-point rating scales at 6 to 24 months and 7-point
rating scales at 36 months. Intercoder agreement exceeded .70 at all ages.

MaternalFamily Variables
Information about the mother and family was obtained from questionnaires and interviews with the
mother when the child was 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36
months old. This information was used to create
variables representing mothers' demographic characteristics (education, age, and ethnicity), the quality of
the marital relationship (marital conflict), mothers'
psychological distress (depressive symptoms), economic hardship (income-to-needs ratio), and mothers' parenting capacity and ability (hours of maternal
employment, child-rearing beliefs, and observed
stimulation and support of the child).
The following variables were measured only at the
1-month assessment: mothers' education, mother's
age in years, mother's ethnicity, marital conflict, and
mother's child-rearing beliefs. Marital conflict was
measured with five items, rated on 7-point scales,
from the Love and Relationships questionnaire
(Braiker & Kelley, 1979) completed by all mothers
who had an ongoing relationship with the infant's
father (a = .67). Items were as follows: "How often
do you and your partner argue?" 'To what extent do
you try to change things about your partner that

311

bother you?' "How often do you feel angry or resentful toward your partner?" "When you and your
partner argue, how serious are the problems or arguments?" "To what extent do you communicate negative feelings toward your partner?" This measure
was available for 41 of the single, never-married
mothers, who, although they were not living with the
baby's father, did have a continuing relationship with
him, as well as all the mothers in the married and
separated-divorced groups. Child-rearing beliefs
were measured by the Modernity Scale (Schaefer &
Edgerton, 1985), a questionnaire that discriminates
between "traditional," or relatively authoritarian, approaches to child rearing and more "modern," or
child-centered, approaches.
The following variables were measured repeatedly
at assessments from 1 to 36 months: (a) family income measured as the ratio of income to needs,
calculated as the total family income divided by the
poverty threshold for their family size; (b) mother's
depressive symptoms, measured using the Center for
Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D;
Radloff, 1977), a 20-item questionnaire that identifies
depressive symptomatology in the general population; (c) the number of hours per week mother was
employed; and (d) the HOME inventory (Caldwell &
Bradley, 1984). This last instrument provides a measure of the stimulation and support available to the
child in the family context, based on a semistructured
interview with the mother and direct observation of
mother and child at home (as = .77 to .87). The two
HOME items that specifically mentioned fathers
were removed from the HOME score.

Marital Status and Family Structure

Variables
The two independent variables in the study were
marital status and family structure. Marital status was
defined as (a) mother single, not married for the
entire first 3 years of the child's life; (b) mother
separated or divorced sometime during the first 3
years of the child's life (recorded at 6,15, 24, and 36
months); and (c) mother stably married to the child's
father during the entire first 3 years of the child's life.
Family structure was defined as (a) one-parent household, including both single-mother and separated/divorced-mother families, and (b) two-parent
household.

Results
The number of mothers who were separated
from their husbands was 17 at 6 months, 42 at
15 months, 65 at 24 months, and 97 at 36
months. The total number of one-parent

312

CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

(separated-divorced or single, never-married)

households was 94 at 6 months, 115 at 15
months, 138 at 24 months, and 170 at 36
months. The number of two-parent households was 246 at 6 months, 225 at 15 months,
202 at 24 months, and 170 at 36 months. Only
8 mothers were actually divorced by the time
the child reached 36 months, and only 3 of the
divorced mothers were remarried. The rate of
separated-divorced families in the sample
was 8% (97/1,216); the rate of single, nevermarried families was 6% (73/1,216); and the
rate of one-parent (separated or single) families was 14%.

Maternal Differences Related to Family

Structure and Marital Status
In the first set of analyses, we examined
differences in maternal characteristics and behavior related to the two independent variables
of family structure and marital status. Results
are presented in Table 1. To keep the analyses
to a reasonable number, and to maximize sub-

sample sizes, we restricted these analyses to

differences observed before the marital separation, at 1 month, and differences observed after
the marital separation, at 36 months.
Family structure: one-parent versus twoparent households. The overall test (using
multivariate analysis of variance; MANOVA)
of differences in maternal characteristics related to family structure was significant, F(7,
330) = 13.6, p < .001, and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) for each variable indicated
that all the maternal variables assessed were
significantly related to family structure, except the number of hours the mother was
employed. Compared with mothers in twoparent families, mothers in one-parent families were younger (25 vs. 29 years old at the
time of the child's birth), less educated (13
years of schooling vs. 15 years), and more
likely to be African American (29% vs. 6%).
They held more traditional beliefs about child
rearing and scored lower on the HOME inventory; they reported more symptoms of depression and were poorer.

Table 1
Analyses of Variance for Relations Between Maternal Variables and Marital Status
F
Means for marital groups

Maternal variable

SeparatedSeparated- Intact
divorced
Single
divorced
married vs. singlec
Predisruption variables, 1 month

Education (years)
Income-to-needs ratio
Age (years)
Ethnicity (% African American)
Traditional beliefs
Marital-partner conflict
Depression
HOME total at 6 months

12.8
0.20
24
48
84.7 s
3.39
13.4
32.0

13.1
2.35
26
9
80.6
3.50
14.4

35.0*

14.8
3.34
29
6
73.3
2.97
10.7
38.0

<1
33.8***
5.52*
37.3***

2.5

<1
<1
13.4***

Separateddivorced vs.
intact
marriedd
32.1***
8.0**
23.7***

4.3

13,4***
l 7 ; 5 ***
11.0***
34.3***

One-parent
vs. twoparent*
41.3***
49.4***
51.6***
59.3***
22.6***
6.1*
5.1*
90.7***

Postdisruption variables, 36 months

344***
Income-to-needs ratio
1.21
2.02
4.4
8.97**
51.8***
Depression
12.7
12.8
8.2
<1
13.8***
10.6***
HOME total
36.1
37.6
43.1
39.4***
51.8***
1.5
Hours employed
21.6
30.1
23.1
7.6**
7.0**
ns
Note. For ethnicity, the analysis performed was Fisher's exact test. HOME = Home Observation for
Measurement
of the Environment.
b
= 41.
Does not include 17 mothers who were separated before this age. c df - L 169. d df = 1,
c
266. df= 1,339.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE

Marital status: married versus separated

mothers. The overall test (MANOVA) of the
difference in maternal variables for mothers
who were married versus mothers who were
separated also was significant, F(12, 235) =
8.5, p < .001. Compared with mothers in stable
marriages, separated mothers were younger (26
vs. 29 years old), less educated (16% vs. 46%
college graduates), and held more traditional
child-rearing beliefs. Even before they were
separated, 1 month after the infant was born,
their average annual family income was only
$46,394 compared with $60,724 for stably married mothers. They had experienced more conflict with their husbands in the month after the
child was born. They were more depressed and
provided less stimulating and supportive parenting for the child. After the marriage broke up,
separated mothers continued to be economically
less well-off; their income-to-needs ratio at 36
months was only half that of married women.
They reported more depressive symptoms, provided less stimulating and supportive HOME
environments for their children, and were employed for more hours than mothers in stable
marriages. Separated mothers were not different
from mothers in intact families in terms of their
ethnicity.
Marital status: separated-divorced versus
single, never married, A MANOVA showed
that separated mothers also differed significantly from single, never-married mothers,
F(12, 154) = 4.55, p < .001. Separated mothers
were older (26 vs. 24 years old, 13% vs. 22%
teenagers) and less likely to be African American (9% vs. 48%).1 They were more affluent
than never-married mothers both before and
after marital separation. The family income-toneeds ratio for mothers who later separated was
more than 10 times that of never-married mothers at 1 month, and their average annual family
income was almost three times as much,
$46,394 versus $16,360. At the 36-month assessment, after the marital separation, separated
or divorced mothers' income-to-needs ratio was
almost twice that of never-married mothers.
Contributing to their income, separated mothers
were employed for more hours than single,
never-married mothers. Before the marital disruption occurred, separated mothers provided
more stimulating and supportive home environments for their children than never-married

313

mothers, but after the separation, their support

and stimulation was equivalent to single, nevermarried mothers'. They were not significantly
different from single, never-married mothers in
terms of education, child-rearing beliefs, conflict with the child's father, or depressive symptoms before or after the separation.

Child Outcome Differences Related to

Family Structure and Marital Status
In the next set of analyses, differences in
child variables related to the two independent
variables, family structure and marital status,
were examined. The results are presented in
Table 2.
Family structure. The first set of analyses
compared children in one-parent families with
children in two-parent families. The MANOVA
for an overall difference in child outcomes related to family structure was significant, F(\9,
310) = 3.27, p < .001, and differences were
consistendy observed in child outcomes assessed from 15 to 36 months of age. Children in
one-parent families (whose parents had never
married or who had separated by the time of the
child assessment) did not perform as well on
tests of cognitive development at 15, 24, and 36
1

Significant differences between African American and White, non-Hispanic single mothers were
observed for two variables, traditional beliefs about
child rearing, F(l, 65) = 23.5, p < .001 (Ms = 93.6
for African American mothers and 74.4 for White
mothers), and the HOME total at 6 months, F(l,
63) = 23.6, p < .001 (Ms = 29.0 for African American mothers and 35.1 for White mothers), and at 36
months, F(l, 62) = 23.3 (Ms = 32.8 for African
American mothers and 40.9 for White mothers). The
other maternal variables (education, income-to-needs
ratio, age, depression, and hours employed) were not
different for African American and White single
mothers. It was not possible to conduct analyses of
ethnic differences in the separated-divorced and intact married groups because of the small numbers of
non-White mothers in these groups (9 African American, 6 Hispanic, and 2 others in the separateddivorced group; 2 Asian, 10 African American, and 7
Hispanic in the intact married group). For the same
reason, it was not possible to perform analyses to
determine whether associations between child outcomes and marital status were different for different
ethnic-racial groups.

314

CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.
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316

CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

months; they had poorer social abilities at 24

months according to their mothers' reports and
more behavior problems at 24 and 36 months;
they were less securely attached to their mothers
at 15 and 24 months; and their behaviors with
mother were less positive and more negative at
15, 24, and 36 months. Only the assessments of
the infants' behavior at 6 months (behavior
problems reported by the mother and observed
behavior in interaction with the mother) failed
to show significant differences related to family
structure. The effect sizes for all significant
differences are also indicated in Table 2. These
estimates are Cohen's/statistic (Cohen, 1988,
p. 274ff), the standard deviation of the standardized means, which, at the levels obtained in this
study, are equal in size to Pearson productmoment correlation coefficients. In the analyses
of associations between child outcomes and
family structure, the average / was .17; the
largest, for cognitive ability at 24 months, was
.27.

ferences that remained significant were those

with cognitive performance at 15 months and
observed positive interactions with mother at 36
months ( m e a n / = .14).
Significant interactions between marital status and the child's gender in the ANCOVAs
suggested that parental separation had a detrimental effect on boys' (but not girls') cognitive
performance at 15 months, F(2, 210) = 3.5, p <
.05 (Ms = 99 vs. 110 for boys and 110 vs. 111
for girls; ns = 24, 88,18, and 82, respectively),
and increased the amount of negative behavior
with mother for girls, but not boys, at 6 months,
F(2, 185) = 6.4, p < .01 (Ms = 2.2 vs. 1.5 for
girls and 1.3 vs. 1.5 for boys; ns = 6, 82, 11,
and 88, respectively), and at 15 months, F(2,
210) = 6.3, p < .01 (Ms = 1.6 vs. 1.2 for girls
and 1.2 for vs. 1.2 for boys; ns = 18, 82, 24,and
88, respectively).

Compared with children whose mothers

never married, children with separated or divorced mothers did better on tests of cognitive
Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs), con- ability at 36 months, maternal reports of social
trolling for mother's education and family ability at 36 months, behavior problems at 24
income-to-needs ratiotwo factors that covar- and 36 months, and observations of positive
ied with marital status, family structure, and behavior with mother at 24 months and negative
child outcomesrevealed fewer significant dif- behavior with mother at 36 months (mean / =
ferences. Nevertheless, children in one-parent .25, largest/ = .30 with cognitive ability at 36
families still performed significantly worse on months and observed positive behavior at 24
tests of cognitive development at 15 and 24 months). The overall MANOVA was signifimonths, were less securely attached to their cant, F(19, 133) = 1.98, p < .01. Although the
mothers at 15 months, and exhibited less posi- significance of these differences was reduced in
tive behavior in interactions with the mother at ANCOVAs controlling for mother's education
15 months and more negative behavior at 36 and family income, significant differences remonths (mean / = .14, largest/ = .20 with mained in children's cognitive ability at 36
months, social ability at 36 months, and positive
cognitive ability at 15 months).
Marital status. Analyses comparing chil- behavior with mother at 24 months (mean
dren in separated-divorced families with chil- / = . 1 9 ) .
dren in single, never-married families and chilSignificant interactions between marital
dren in intact married families were conducted status and the child's gender in the ANCOnext. Children in separated-divorced families VAs suggested that marital status affected
did more poorly than children in intact married social ability at 36 months more for girls than
families on tests of cognitive ability at 15 and for boys, with daughters of separated24 months, were less securely attached to divorced mothers scoring higher than daughmother at 24 months, and had less positive ters of single, never-married mothers, F(2,
interactions with mother at 15 and 36 months 168) = 3.9, p < .05 (Ms = 36 vs. 33 for girls
(mean/ = .18, largest/ = .23 with observed and 35 vs. 34 for boys; ns = 45, 40, 52, and
positive interaction at 36 months). However, the 33, respectively. Negative behavior with
overall test (MANOVA) of these differences mother was higher for girls with separatedwas not significant, F(19, 240) = 1.44, ns, and, divorced mothers than girls with single mothmoreover, when mothers' education and family ers and for boys with single mothers than
income were controlled, the only individual dif- boys with separated-divorced mothers at 6

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE
months, F(2, 88) = 9.1, p < .01 (Ms = 2.2 vs.
1.3 for girls and 1.3 vs. 1.5 for boys; ns = 6,
40, 11, and 33, respectively), and 15 months,
F(2, 113) = 4.3, p < .05 (Afs = 1.6 vs. 1.3 for
girls and 1.2 vs. 1.4 for boys; KS = 18, 40, 24,
and 33, respectively).

Immediate Effects of Parental Separation

on Children
In the next set of analyses, differences in
child outcomes among children experiencing
parental separation in the time period immediately preceding the assessment of their behavior
and children not experiencing separation in that
time period were explored. Infant behavior
problems and positive and negative behavior
with mother observed at 6 months were compared for children whose mothers separated
when they were 1-6 months old (n = 17) versus children whose mothers did not separate
during this period (n 323). Children's cognitive ability, security of attachment, and observed positive and negative behavior with
mother at 15 months were compared for children whose mothers separated when they were
7-15 months old (n = 25) versus children
whose mothers did not separate during this period (n = 315). Children's cognitive ability,
social ability, behavior problems, security of
attachment, and observed positive and negative
behavior with mother at 24 months were compared for children whose mothers separated
when they were 16-24 months old (n = 23)
versus children whose mothers did not separate
during this period (n = 317). Finally, children's
cognitive ability, social ability, behavior problems, security of attachment, and observed positive and negative behavior with mother at 36
months were compared for children whose
mothers separated when they were 25-36
months old {n = 32) versus children whose
mothers did not separate during this period (n =
308). There were no significant differences in
either ANOVAs or ANCOVAs controlling for
maternal education and family income; all but
two of the F values were less than 1; effect size
was less than .05. However, it must be noted
that unequal and small sample sizes limit these
findings.

317

Predisruption Differences in Children *s

Behavior
Next, ANOVAs and ANCOVAs were conducted to determine whether differences in children's behavior preceded marital separation.
The behavior of children whose mothers remained married from 1 to 36 months (n = 170)
was contrasted with the behavior of children
whose parents separated when they were 7-36
months old (n 80) at 6 months, with the
behavior of children whose parents separated
when they were 16-36 months old (n = 55) at
15 months, and with the behavior of children
whose parents separated when they were 25-36
months old (n = 32) at 24 months. Only one
significant difference was found. Children
whose parents later separated were less positive
in their interactions with mother at 24 months,
F(l, 202) = 4.6, p < .05. However, this difference was reduced to nonsignificance in the ANCOVA when maternal education and family
income were controlled.
To further explore the issue of predisruption
differences in children's behavior, we compared
child outcomes at 36 months for children whose
parents separated in the first year and a half of
their lives (n = 35) with outcomes for children
whose parents separated in the second year and
a half (n = 53). There were no significant
differences in ANOVAs or ANCOVAs for any
of the 36-month child outcomes.

Comparing Marital Status and Family

Structure With Maternal Characteristics
as Predictors of Child Outcomes
Given that effect sizes for analyses linking
child outcomes with family structure and marital status were moderate in size, it was important to compare these effect sizes with those
obtained for other predictors of child outcomes.
Therefore, we next analyzed the associations
between child outcomes and maternal characteristics and experiences. In Table 3, we present
the correlations of child outcomes with maternal education and family income and the partial
correlations of child outcomes with mothers'
age, ethnicity, child-rearing beliefs, marital conflict, depressive symptoms, hours of employment, and stimulation and support of the child at
home, partialing out maternal education and
family income. Correlations and partial correla-

CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

318

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EFFECTS OF DIVORCE
tions of child outcomes with marital status and
family structure are also presented in Table 3
for comparison. The results of the latter analyses paralleled ANOVA and ANCOVA results
presented earlier but were simplified by averaging correlation coefficients across assessments
made at 15, 24, and 36 months.
Child outcomes were more consistently predicted by family income and mother1 s education, ethnicity, beliefs, depression, and HOME
scores than they were by marital status or family
structure. Family income-to-needs ratio was
significantly related to all the child outcomes,
and these correlations were higher than the correlations with one- versus two-parent family
structure (significantly different for behavior
problems, MRR Z = - 2 . 3 1 , p < .02) and with
separated versus married marital status (significantly different for social ability, MRR Z =
-2.03, p < .05, and behavior problems, MRR
Z = 3.58,/? <.OO1).2 Mother's education was
significantly correlated with all child outcomes
except negative behavior with mother, and these
significant correlations were consistently higher
than the correlations with one- versus twoparent family structure (significantly different
for social ability, MRR Z = -2.35, p < .01,
and behavior problems, MRR Z = 3.28, p <
.001) and separated versus intact married marital status (for cognitive ability, MRR Z =
-2.15, p < .03; for social ability, MRR Z =
-2.18, p < .005; and for behavior problems,
M R R Z = -4.41,/? < .001).
Even with mothers' education and family income partialed out, mothers* ethnicity was related to children's cognitive and social abilities
and behavior problems (significantly more than
marital status and family structure for cognitive
ability, MRR Zs = -2.83, p < .005, and
-2.02, p < .05, and social ability, MRR Zs =
-2.24, p < .005, and -2.97, p < .001); mothers* child-rearing beliefs were significantly related to children's cognitive and social abilities,
behavior problems, and positive behavior with
mother (significantly more than marital status
for cognitive ability, MRR Z = 2.07, p < .05,
significantly more than marital status and family structure for social ability, MRR Zs =
- 2 . 2 7 , p < .01, and -3.26,p < .001); mothers'
depression was related to children's social ability and behavior problems (significantly more
than marital status for behavior problems, MRR

319

Z = -4.34, p < .001); and mothers' scores on

the HOME inventory were related to children's
cognitive and social abilities, behavior problems, attachment security, and positive behavior
with mother (significantly more highly correlated than marital status or family structure for
cognitive and social ability, MRR Zs = 4.64,
p < .001; -2.22, p < .05; -3.71, p < .001; and
3.11, p < .001, and significantly more highly
correlated than family structure for behavior
problems and positive interaction with mother,
MRR Zs = -4.11, p < .01, and -2.11 , p <
.05). Child outcomes were not predicted by the
mother's age, predisruption marital conflict, or
postdisruption hours of maternal employment.
The relative predictability of marital status
and maternal characteristics and behavior was
further explored in regression analyses. The results of these analyses are presented in Table 4.
Two models were explored: a model including
only demographic variables (maternal education, family income, and marital status) and a
model including these variables plus two psychological variables (maternal depression and
HOME scores). When maternal education, family income, and marital status were entered, in
the first model, they jointly predicted child outcomes across ages15, 24, and 36 months
and domainscognitive ability, social ability,
behavior problems, attachment security, and
positive behavior with mother. When maternal
depression and HOME scores were added to the
equation, the change was significant for cognitive ability, behavior problems, and behavior
with the mother at 6 months (positive behavior)
and 36 months (negative behavior). Significant
beta coefficients for depression were observed
for behavior problems, and significant beta coefficients for the HOME scores were observed
for cognitive ability, social ability, and behavior
problems. With these "process" variables in the
equation, beta coefficients for marital status
were not significant for any child outcomes.
Discussion
The rate of marital disruption observed in this
study is reflective of a national pattern of mar2
MRR Z is a statistic for comparing correlated
correlation coefficients (Meng, Rosenthal, & Rubin,
1992).

320

CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

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EFFECTS OF DIVORCE

ital instability. If the rate we observed in the

children*s first 3 years continues to age 18,54%
of the children in this sample will indeed have
spent some time in a one-parent family, as demographers have predicted (Ahlburg & DeVita,
1992). This evidence of family instability underscores the importance of investigations such
as the present one, which provides information
about the following four topics: (a) differences
in mothers' circumstances and characteristics
related to marital status and family structure, (b)
differences in children's behavior and performance related to marital status and family structure, (c) the relative ability of marital status
versus other maternal circumstances and characteristics to predict children's behavior and
performance, and (d) gender differences in the
associations between marital status and child
outcomes.

Striking Differences in Family

Circumstances
Differences before marital separation. Differences in mothers' circumstances and characteristics related to family structure and marital
status were significant and sizable. Consistent
with previous research (Emery, 1998), married
mothers had advantages over both separated and
single, never-married mothers in terms of education, age, and income. For mothers in the
separated-divorced group, these differences
were apparent even before the marital disruption occurred. Married mothers also had psychological advantages over single and separated
mothers; mothers in intact married families held
more child-centered beliefs, experienced less
conflict with the child's father, were less depressed, and provided the infant with more support and stimulation than either unmarried
mothers or mothers who subsequently separated. These are new findings; no one has explored the psychological conditions existing before marital disruption occurs in families of
very young children.
Although separated mothers were disadvantaged compared with stably married mothers,
even prior to their separation, consistent with
national statistics (Bianchi, 1995; U.S. Bureau
of the Census, 1986), they had advantages over
never-married mothers in terms of income and
age, and they were less likely to be African

321

American. They also provided more stimulating

and supportive home environments for their
children. They were comparable to nevermarried mothers in terms of their education,
child-rearing beliefs, conflict with the baby's
father, and depressive symptoms.
Differences after marital separation. After
the marital disruption, separated mothers had
lower incomes, experienced higher levels of
depression, and provided the child with less
support and stimulation than married
mothersas they had before the separation.
Their depression, in fact, was as high as that of
single, never-married mothers. They also
worked more hours per week than either single
or married mothers. These findings are consistent with those of research on mothers of older
children, which show that compared with married mothers, single and separated or divorced
mothers not only are poorer (Bianchi, 1995;
Emery, 1998) but suffer more depression and
anxiety (Lamb et al., 1999; Pett et al., 1999) and
are less capable as parents (Karr & Easley,
1986; MacKinnon et al., 1982,1986; Pett et al.,
1999; Weinraub & Gringlas, 1995).

Disappearing Differences in Child

Outcomes
With these large and pervasive differences in
the mothers' characteristics, circumstances, and
behavior, it would not be surprising to find
significant differences in children's development and well-being related to family structure
and marital status. Indeed, such differences appeared initially when simple comparisons were
made. Across measures of cognitive ability, social ability, behavior problems, attachment security, and positive and negative behavior with
the mother, children in one-parent families performed more poorly than children in two-parent
families at 15, 24, and 36 months of age. When
the contributions of maternal education and
family income were controlled, however, differences were reduced. Associations between family structure and child outcomes were still significant for cognitive performance at 15 and 24
months and attachment and positive interaction
with mother at 15 months. However, when averaged across age, only the association with
cognitive scores remained significant.
Fewer differences in children's behavior and

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CLARKE-STEWART ET AL.

performance were related to marital status than

to family structure. Still, children with separated parents performed more poorly than children in intact families in assessments of cognitive ability at IS and 24 months, attachment to
mother at 24 months, and positive interaction
with mother at 15 and 36 months. These results
are consistent with results of research with
somewhat older children showing that children
from divorced families did more poorly on intelligence and achievement tests and had difficulties in social interactions (Amato & Keith,
1991). When family income and maternal education were controlled, however, in the present
study, only the associations with cognition at 15
months and positive interaction with mother at
36 months were significant, and when child
outcomes were averaged across age, none of
them was significantly associated with marital
status (the effect size averaged across all outcomes was .01). These findings parallel Amato
and Keith* s observation that in studies in which
family variables were controlled, divorce effects were reduced. However, the differences
observed in the present study were even smaller
than those revealed in previous research analyzed by Amato and Keith. There was no indication mat divorce effects were greater because
the children in the study were very young, as
might have been expected on the basis of prior
studies (Allison & Furstenberg, 1989; Howell et
al., 1997; Kalter & Rembar, 1981; Pagani et al.,
1997).
Thus, what appeared to be a tidal wave of
divorce effects on children's behavior and abilities disappeared entirely when controls were
applied. Even controls based on differences existing before the marital disruptionmothers'
education and family income at 1 month
reduced associations between marital status and
child outcomes to nonsignificance. Apparently,
on the basis of our observations, parental separation, per se, does not harm children's psychological development in the first 3 years of life.
In fact, children whose parents were separated
were better off than children in single-mother
families in terms of their cognitive performance, social ability, behavior problems, and
interaction with mother when they were 3 years
old. Even with maternal education and income
controlled, they did better on assessments of
cognitive and social abilities at age 3. Parental

separation did not have immediate, short-lived

effects on children's behavior, nor did it affect
children retroactively, that is, before the marital
disruption occurred. The last finding contradicts
research demonstrating predisruption differences in children's behavior (Amato & Booth,
1996; Block et al., 1986; Cherlin et al., 1991;
Jenkins & Smith, 1993)perhaps this is because of the very young age of the children in
the present study.

Potent Predictors of Children's

Performance
If marital status was not a predictor of children's performance in the first 3 years, what
was? In this study, child outcomes were more
strongly and consistently predicted by family
income and mothers' education, ethnicity,
child-rearing beliefs, depressive symptoms, and
capacity to provide support and stimulation than
by marital status. Together the factors of family
income and mother's education, depression, and
parenting ability predicted child outcomes at a
moderately high level (regression coefficients
were .36 to .46 for cognitive performance and
behavior problems at 24 and 36 months). These
findings are consistent with those of studies
showing that the psychological well-being of
children in divorced families is related to lower
income (Amato & Keith, 1991), higher maternal depression and anxiety (Clarke-Stewart &
Hayward, 1996), and diminished parenting (Pett
et al., 1999).
Our results do not replicate those of researchers who have found that the effects of divorce
were stronger than the effects of other demographic variables, such as Allison and Furstenberg (1989), who found that for the 7- to 11year-old children in the National Survey of
Children, the effects of divorce were larger than
the effects of ethnicity and maternal education.
Our results also do not replicate those of researchers who found that marital conflict was a
more powerful predictor of child outcomes than
marital status (Amato & Keith, 1991). We observed no association between child outcomes
and the mother's reported conflict with the
child's father, but most likely this is because
conflict was measured when these children were
only infants.

323

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE

Are Boys More Affected Than Girls?

In the present study, boys were more affected
by parental separation than girls in terms of
cognitive performance at 15 months, whereas
girls were more affected than boys in terms of
negative behavior with their mothers at 6 and 15
months. In fact, negative behavior with mother
was higher for girls with separated mothers than
for girls with either single or married mothers. It
would be unwise to give too much credence to
these gender differences. Few significant interactions with gender were found in the study, no
significant differences were observed at 24 or
36 months, and the particular differences observed are not entirely consistent with previous
findings. In previous research with older children it has been observed that boys are more
affected than girls by their parents' divorce
(Hetherington et al., 1979, 1982; Howell et aL,
1997; Jenkins & Smith, 1993; Mott et al., 1997;
Simons, 1996; Wallerstein & Blakeslee, 1989;
Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980; Zaslow, 1988), particularly in the areas of social adjustment and
mother-child relations (Amato & Keith, 1991).
Our results paint a different picture, showing
that in very early childhood, parental separation
affects girls more strongly than boys emotionally and boys more strongly than girls intellectually. It remains to be seen whether differences
like those found in other studies will appear
when the children in the present sample are
older. It is important to continue to monitor
divorce effects separately for boys and girls and
to look for sleeper effects as well as immediate
consequences of separation.

these children who experienced their parents*

separation at a very early age is promising, but,
as the study continues, we will be watching with
interest their progress, as well as the progress of
children whose parents divorce later on.
Implications for Application
and Public Policy
Our results suggest that what is most important for children in these early years is not
family structure or marital status per se, but
family process. Young children in the study
were doing best when their mothers had more
education and adequate family incomes, were
not depressed, and knew how to provide the
children with stimulation and support Determining whether these maternal qualities can be
increased by policies promoting higher education for women, providing parent training for all
mothers, or offering psychotherapy or antidepressants for the single or newly separated is,
unfortunately, well beyond the scope of this
research effort. It is clear, however, that the
behavior, beliefs, and well-being of mothers,
whether single, separated, or happily married,
are linked to children's behavior and development in these early years. Our results, therefore,
support policies and programs that would offer
help to mothers rather than suggesting that we
should institute procedures to make it more
difficult for couples to separate or for single
women to have children.

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Received October 22, 1999
Revision received January 14, 2000
Accepted February 4, 2000