Do adults with divorced parents have greater divorce odds?

 Posted on June 04, 2021 in Divorce

You think of divorce as something that will or will not happen based solely on decisions made by you and your spouse. No one else affects your odds of divorce.

But is that true? Or could outside factors play a role? For instance, say your own parents got divorced when you were a child, and/or your spouse’s parents got divorced. Does this increase the odds of divorce in your own life, even though your parents have nothing to do with the specifics of your relationship?

The odds are increased by 38%

It is true that adults with divorced parents face greater divorce odds. Researchers have even studied this phenomenon to the point that they claim that when one spouse has divorced parents, the odds of divorce go up by 38%.

Lest this be seen as an effect of having a single-parent upbringing, they also looked at cases where one parent passed away, thus ending the marriage. In these cases, divorce odds did not increase for the children in that family. This means that it is specifically having divorced parents that makes your own divorce more likely.

Exactly why this happens is a bit less clear. Do children naturally follow their parents’ example? Do adult children with parents who are still married feel more reluctance to get divorced? Did watching their parents get divorced break down the social stigma and allow them to address life more on their own terms?

Regardless of the reason, it is interesting to think of how these different factors play a role. If you are considering your own divorce, you need to know what legal steps to take.