Divorce in Families With Very Young Children in the United States

Unique Difficulties of Younger Children Versus Older Children

Children’s Reactions to Parents’ Divorce

Attachment Research

Diminished Parenting Following Divorce

Parental Conflict

Maternal Gatekeeping

Overnight Stays

Child Custody Arrangements

Gender Differences Among Children

Other Issues Affecting Young Children

Resiliency of Young Children

Conclusions and Future Directions

References

Introduction

Despite high divorce rates, there are relatively few studies on the effects of divorce on very young children in the United States. Despite this small body of research, existing studies have shown that young children face challenges linked to divorce including diminished parenting, exposure to parental conflict, and behavioral and emotional issues, as well as economic and residential instability. Although divorce can be detrimental to very young children, research has also shown that young children are resilient. Studies have reported that overnight stays with the noncustodial parent, joint custody arrangements, low conflict parenting relationships, parental planning, and some types of family interventions have the potential to assuage challenges faced by children. Thus, recent research has underscored the resilience of children following divorce. Even though many children face difficulties associated with divorce, families often restabilize with time, and most children move into adulthood without facing long-term problems.

Divorce in Families With Very Young Children in the United States

Divorce rates have declined across the United States, especially among younger couples who are also more likely to be in their childbearing years (Kennedy and Ruggles, 2014). Nonetheless, a number of young children will experience their parents’ divorce. According to recent estimates from the 2017 American Community Survey, about 5.4% of children ages 0 to 3 live with a currently divorced parent. Moreover, out of all children living with a divorced parent, 15% of these children were between the ages of 0 and 3. Acknowledging the nuances in these numbers is also crucial for understanding changes to families in the United States over time. For example, these numbers do not capture children who have a divorced parent who later remarries. Further, these data do not assess children who are born to cohabiting parents, which according to recent estimates comprise about 20% of births. Moreover, cohabiting parents may later split, especially as researchers find that children in cohabiting unions are twice as likely to see their parents dissolve their union relative to children with married parents (Heuveline et al., 2003; Kennedy and Bumpass, 2008). Thus, many children with married or cohabiting parents are susceptible to the consequences of their parents’ divorce or union dissolution. Despite the prevalence of divorce among young children, there are still relatively few studies that have focused exclusively on the consequences of parents’ breakup for this age group. Young children face difficulty in coping with marital dissolution and often experience stress as well as behavioral or emotional problems following their parents’ divorce. Further, many children are disadvantaged after their parents’ divorce because they often lose the same type and amount of access to one parent who was likely a crucial provider of both emotional and financial support to the child (Hetherington and Kelly, 2002).