research findings regarding the effects and factors that moderate the effects.
Psychoemotional Problems. Kasen, Cohen, Brook and Hartmark (1996) have noted that children can experience a number of psychoemotional problems (e.g. depression, anxiety disorders, general social maladjustment) following parental divorce, and these can be present even as much as eight years following the divorce.
However, in their longitudinal study of 648 children experiencing psychoemotional problems eight years after parental divorce, the authors observed that the gender of the child can play a strong contributive role. Specifically, Kasen et. al (1996) observed (using interview and questionnaire data) that boys raised by single mothers had the highest level of risk for psychiatric disorders following divorce. Girls, on the other hand, did not experience the same high levels of risk.
If the parent remarried, gender effects appeared to be reversed. Specifically, Kasen, Cohen, Brook and Hartmark (1996) found that, in stepfamilies, the risk of depression and or an anxiety disorder as a long-term effect of divorce was significant higher for girls than for boys.
Also, particular temperament or personality characteristics of the child play a contributive role. In this regard, if children had anxiety- or depression-prone temperaments prior to the divorce, then they were likely to experience long-term psychiatric effects, regardless of family status or gender.
As to the severity and frequency with which children of divorcing parents experience a long-term negative impact on their mental health as adults, a study of more than 17,000 children (7 to 23) conducted by Chase-Lansdale, Cherlin and Kiernan (1995) may provide at least a tentative estimate:
Parental divorce had a moderate, long-term negative impact on adult mental health, as measured by the Malaise Inventory (MI) total score, and controlling for economic status, children's emotion...