Family Communication Patterns That Predict Perceptions of Upheaval and Psychological Well-Being for Adult Children of Late-Life Divorce

• In Event: Family Communication: Dynamics and Effects on (Adult) Children

Abstract

This study examined the experiences of adult children following their parents’ divorce in later life. Drawing on family communication patterns theory, we examined each parent’s conformity orientation and conversation orientation as predictors of adult children’s perceptions of turbulence and feeling caught, which in turn predicted depressive symptoms and resilience. Adult children (N = 173) who were over the age of 18 at the time of their parents’ divorce completed surveys about their family communication patterns and their perceptions of individual and family outcomes following the divorce. Our findings point to differing conformity and conversation orientations enacted by each parent. Mothers’ and fathers’ conformity orientations predicted perceptions of turbulence and feeling caught, but only fathers’ conversation orientation was associated with feeling caught. Perceptions of turbulence were positively associated with depressive symptoms and negatively associated with resilience for adult children, but feeling caught was only positively associated with depressive symptoms.

Authors

• John Leustek, Rutgers University

• Jennifer A. Theiss, Rutgers U