NCJ Number
212801
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 34 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2005 Pages: 533-546
Date Published
December 2005
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This longitudinal 3-wave study of 1,274 Dutch adolescents and young adults, ages 12-24 at the first wave, compared youth from intact and divorced families regarding long-term psychological and behavioral problems.
Abstract
The study found that compared to their peers in continuously intact families, adolescents and young adults who grew up in families after divorce had more long-term psychological and behavioral problems. The long-term differences in problem behavior of adolescents and young adults from both intact and postdivorce families showed persistence and stability. Data for this study were collected as part of a Dutch study entitled the "Utrecht Study of Adolescent Development 1991-1997," which was a longitudinal study with three waves at 3-year intervals. In 1991, a national sample of 3,392 Dutch adolescents ages 12-23 was drawn from an existing panel of 10,000 households. The sample was representative of the Dutch indigenous adolescent population of the early 1990s. A random sample of 1,302 subjects was taken from this sample for the longitudinal part of the study. From this sample, the current study selected 1,136 youth from intact families and 138 youth from postdivorce families. Self-report and interview data were collected to determine long-term psychological and behavioral adjustment. Measures of psychological adjustment focused on the degree to which psychological stress and depression had been recently experienced, general well-being and happiness, and consideration of suicide. Measurements of behavior addressed the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and soft drugs, as well as the number of delinquent acts over the past 12 months. Longitudinal multilevel analyses were used to determine the link between psychological and behavioral adjustment and family structure. Study limitations are noted. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 54 references