Divorce when children are young appears to have a stronger effect on parent-child relationships later in life than if the divorce occurred when the children are older.
R Chris Fraley, PhD, University of Illinois at urbana champaign, revealed that divorce during the first few years of the child’s life can lead to insecure relationship with their parents as adults. Also, individuals from divorced families were less likely to view their current relationships with their parents as secure. People who experienced parental divorce between birth and 3 to 5 years of age were more insecure in their current relationships with their parents compared to those whose parents divorced later in childhood.
“A person who has a secure relationship with a parent is more comfortable depending on the parent and is confident that the parent will be psychologically available when needed,” Fraley said.
Although there was a tendency for people to experience more anxiety about romantic relationships if they were from divorced families, the link between parental divorce and insecurity in romantic relationships was relatively weak. 74 percent of participants indicated that they had lived with their mothers following divorce or separation, while 11 percent indicated living with their fathers; the remainder lived with grandparents or other caretakers.