Parental divorce and adult longevity

Life course research has established associations between adverse childhood events and later life health. We examine the relationship of experiencing parental divorce before the age of 16 and survival across 34 years of adulthood.
Methods
Analysis of panel data from a USA-based survey of 6,928 adults residing in Alameda County, California in 1965. Cox regression was used to examine associations between parental divorce and longevity.
Results
Controlling for age, race/ethnicity, gender, and childhood socioeconomic position, respondents who recalled a parental divorce during childhood had increased risk of mortality compared to those with no separation. The association was stronger for premature mortality and deaths due to cardiovascular disease. Divorce in childhood was also associated with lowered adult education, fewer social network ties, more depression, and worse health practices. These factors appeared to explain the association with longevity.
Conclusion
Parental divorce in childhood is associated with lowered well-being in adulthood and long-term survival. Early prevention and health promotion efforts may be warranted for children who experience parental divorce or discord as a means of supporting enhanced trajectories of health and well-being.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this article
Subscribe and save
Springer+ Basic
€32.70 /Month
- Get 10 units per month
- Download Article/Chapter or eBook
- 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
- Cancel anytime
Buy Now
Price includes VAT (France)
Instant access to the full article PDF.
Rent this article via DeepDyve
Similar content being viewed by others

Divorce and health in middle and older ages
Article 05 October 2018

Parental Divorce in Childhood and the Accelerated Epigenetic Aging for Earlier and Later Cohorts: Role of Mediators of Chronic Depressive Symptoms, Education, Smoking, Obesity, and Own Marital Disruption
Article Open access 31 October 2023

Do Children Carry the Weight of Divorce?
Article Open access 11 June 2019
Explore related subjects
References
- Arias E (2006) United States life tables, 2003. Natl Vital Stat Rep 54(14):1–40 PubMedGoogle Scholar
- Baltrus PT, Lynch JW, Everson-Rose S, Raghunathan TE, Kaplan GA (2005) Race/ethnicity, life-course socioeconomic position, and body weight trajectories over 34 years: the Alameda County Study. Am J Public Health 95:1595–1601 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Beebe-Dimmer J, Lynch JW, Turrell G, Lustgarten S, Raghunathan T, Kaplan GA (2004) Childhood and adult socioeconomic conditions and 31-year mortality risk in women. Am J Epidemiol 159:481–490 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Berkman LF (1983) Health and ways of living: the Alameda County Study. Oxford University Press, New York Google Scholar
- Breslow L, Breslow N (1993) Health practices and disability: some evidence from Alameda County. Prev Med 22:86–95 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Dube SR, Felitti VJ, Dong M, Giles WH, Anda RF (2003) The impact of adverse childhood experiences on health problems: evidence from four birth cohorts dating back to 1900. Prev Med 37:268–277 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Ely M, Richards MPM, Wadsworth MEJ, Elliott BJ (1999) Secular changes in the association of parental divorce and children’s educational attainment: evidence from three British birth cohorts. J Soc Policy 28:464–495 ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Nordenberg D, Williamson DF, Spitz AM, Edwards V, Koss MP, Marks JS (1998) Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. The adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. Am J Prev Med 14:245–258 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Gilman SE, Kawachi I, Fitzmaurice GM, Buka SL (2003) Family disruption in childhood and risk of adult depression. Am J Psychiatry 160:939–946 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Haine RA, Sandler IN, Wolchik SA, Tein JY, Dawson-McClure SR (2003) Changing the legacy of divorce: evidence from prevention programs and future directions. Fam Relat 52:397–405 ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Halfon N, Hochstein M (2002) Life course health development: an integrated framework for developing health, policy, and research. Milbank Q 80:433–479 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Hemminki K, Chen B (2006) Lifestyle and cancer: effect of parental divorce. Eur J Cancer Prev 15:524–530 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- House JS, Kessler RC, Herzog AR (1990) Age, socioeconomic status, and health. Milbank Q 68:383–411 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Huurre T, Junkkari H, Aro H (2006) Long-term psychosocial effects of parental divorce: a follow-up study from adolescence to adulthood. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 256:256–263 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Kaplan GA, Roberts RE, Camacho TC, Coyne JC (1987) Psychosocial predictors of depression. Prospective evidence from the human population laboratory studies. Am J Epidemiol 125:206–220 PubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Kelly JB (2000) Children’s adjustment in conflicted marriage and divorce: a decade review of research. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 39:963–973 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Kirby JB (2002) The influence of parental separation on smoking initiation in adolescents. J Health Soc Behav 43:56–71 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Lansford JE, Malone PS, Castellino DR, Dodge KA, Pettit GS, Bates JE (2006) Trajectories of internalizing, externalizing, and grades for children who have and have not experienced their parents’ divorce or separation. J Fam Psychol 20:292–301 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Lorenz FO, Wickrama KA, Conger RD, Elder GH Jr (2006) The short-term and decade-long effects of divorce on women’s midlife health. J Health Soc Behav 47:111–125 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Loucks EB, Sullivan LM, D’Agostino RB Sr, Larson MG, Berkman LF, Benjamin EJ (2006) Social networks and inflammatory markers in the Framingham Heart Study. J Biosoc Sci 38:835–842 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Lund R, Christensen U, Holstein BE, Due P, Osler M (2006) Influence of marital history over two and three generations on early death. A longtidutinal study of Danish men born in 1953. J Epidemiol Community Health 60:496–501 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Luo Y, Waite LJ (2005) The impact of childhood and adult SES on physical, mental, and cognitive well-being in later life. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 60:S93–S101 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Mack KY (2001) Childhood family disruptions and adult well-being: the differential effects of divorce and parental death. Death Stud 25:419–443 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Maier E, Lachman M (2000) Consequences of early parental loss and separation for health and well-being in midlife. Int J Behav Dev 24:183–189 ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Martin LR, Friedman HS, Clark KM, Tucker JS (2005) Longevity following the experience of parental divorce. Soc Sci Med 61:2177–2189 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Modin B, Koupil I, Vagero D (2009) The impact of early twentieth century illegitimacy across three generations. Longevity and intergenerational health correlates. Soc Sci Med 68:1633–1640 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- National Scientific Counsel on the Developing Child (2005) Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the brain. In: 3rd NSCDC working paper presented at Brandeis University, Waltham, 2005
- Nicolson NA (2004) Childhood parental loss and cortisol levels in adult men. Psychoneuroendocrinology 29:1012–1018 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Schwartz JE, Friedman HS, Tucker JS, Tomlinson-Keasey C, Wingard DL, Criqui MH (1995) Sociodemographic and psychosocial factors in childhood as predictors of adult mortality. Am J Public Health 85:1237–1245 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Sigle-Rushton W, Hobcract J, Kiernan K (2005) Parental disruption and adult well-being: a cross cohort comparison. Demography 42:427–446 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Singer JD, Willett JB (2003) Applied longitudinal data analysis: modeling change and event occurrence. Oxford University Press, New York BookGoogle Scholar
- Smith KR, Mineau GP, Garibotti G, Kerber R (2009) Effects of childhood and middle-adulthood family conditions on later-life mortality: evidence from the Utah population database, 1850–2002. Soc Sci Med 68:1649–1658 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Strand BH, Kunst A (2007) Childhood socioeconomic position and cause-specific mortality in early adulthood. Am J Epidemiol 165:85–93 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Thompson RG Jr, Lizardi D, Keyes KM, Hasin DS (2008) Childhood or adolescent parental divorce/separation, parental history of alcohol problems, and offspring lifetime alcohol dependence. Drug Alcohol Depend 98:264–269 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Troxel WM, Matthews KA (2004) What are the costs of marital conflict and dissolution to children’s physical health? Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 7:29–57 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tucker JS, Friedman HS, Schwartz JE, Criqui MH, Tomlinson-Keasey C, Wingard DL, Martin LR (1997) Parental divorce: effects on individual behavior and longevity. J Pers Soc Psychol 73:381–391 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Turrell G, Lynch JW, Leite C, Raghunathan T, Kaplan GA (2007) Socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood and across the life course and all-cause mortality and physical function in adulthood: evidence from the Alameda County Study. J Epidemiol Community Health 61:723–730 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tyrka AR, Wier L, Price LH, Ross N, Anderson GM, Wilkinson CW, Carpenter LL (2008) Childhood parental loss and adult hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal function. Biol Psychiatry 63:1147–1154 ArticlePubMedCASGoogle Scholar
- Wolchik SA, Sandler IN, Millsap RE, Plummer BA, Greene SM, Anderson ER, Dawson-McClure SR, Hipke K, Haine RA (2002) Six-year follow-up of preventive interventions for children of divorce: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 288:1874–1881 ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Yannakoulia M, Papanikolaou K, Hatzopoulou I, Efstathiou E, Papoutsakis C, Dedoussis GV (2008) Association between family divorce and children’s BMI and meal patterns: the GENDAI Study. Obesity (Silver Spring) 16:1382–1387 ArticleGoogle Scholar
Acknowledgments
The authors have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest. This research was supported in part by funding from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration for the Maternal and Child Health Life Course Research Network (#UA6MC19803) (Dr. Halfon) and NIH LRP (Dr. Larson). We also wish to thank Louba Aaronson and Amy Graber who assisted with data analysis and manuscript preparation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
- UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, 10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 900, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA Kandyce Larson & Neal Halfon
- Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA Kandyce Larson & Neal Halfon
- Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA Neal Halfon
- Department of Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA Neal Halfon
- Kandyce Larson