The link between parental divorce and children’s later risk of divorce is well documented empirically, but previous studies have rarely considered the family type following the parental divorce. The post-divorce family type is important, however, for different explanations of the intergenerational transmission of divorce. In this work, the third Family Survey of the German Youth Institute (DJI) (2000) is used to analyse how growing up in a stepfamily after a parental divorce influences the later risk of divorce and which mediating mechanisms are capable of explaining the transmission of divorce. The results of the present study indicate that persons from post-divorce stepfamilies have a particularly high risk of divorce. Sex differences become apparent as well. For men, growing up in a post-divorce stepfamily increases the own risk of future divorce, while growing up with a divorced single parent has no effect. For women, growing up in either postdivorce family type increases the risk of divorce. The increased divorce risk of men raised in postdivorce stepfamilies can be partially explained by their typically lower investment into marriagespecific capital. Concerning women, the stressful situation in the family of origin offers an additional explanation of the relationship between growing up in a post-divorce stepfamily and the own risk of divorce. The mediator variables are less capable of explaining the link between growing up with a divorced single parent and the own risk of divorce for women. The findings are discussed with respect to their implications for different explanations of the intergenerational transmission of divorce.
Zusammenfassung
Dass Scheidungskinder in ihren eigenen Ehen einem erhöhten Scheidungsrisiko unterliegen, ist in einer Vielzahl von Untersuchungen empirisch nachgewiesen worden. Bisherige Studien haben allerdings nur selten die Art der Folgefamilie nach der elterlichen Scheidung berücksichtigt, obwohl diese zur Erklärung des Transmissionseffekts von Bedeutung ist. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird anhand des dritten Familiensurveys des Deutschen Jugendinstituts (2000) überprüft, inwiefern das Aufwachsen in einer Stieffamilie nach der elterlichen Scheidung das spätere Scheidungsrisiko beeinflusst und durch welche vermittelnden Mechanismen sich der Transmissionseffekt erklären lässt. Empirisch zeigt sich, dass Personen aus Scheidungsstieffamilien in besonderem Maße einem erhöhten Scheidungsrisiko unterliegen und dass Geschlechtsunterschiede im Transmissionseffekt bestehen: Für Männer erhöht lediglich das Aufwachsen in einer Scheidungsstieffamilie das eigene Scheidungsrisiko, das Aufwachsen bei einem alleinerziehenden Elternteil hat keinen Effekt.
How a Collective Trauma Influences Ethno-Religious Relations of Adolescents in Present-Day Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
