The relationship between parental divorce and African Americans' socioeconomic status and relationship develoment

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to determine what effect, if any, the role of parental divorce would have on African Americans' ability to form satisfying adult romantic relationships and on their socioeconomic status. The groups were divided into those who had experienced parental divorce prior to age thirteen (adult children of divorce) and those whose parents were still married when the respondent was thirteen (intact families). Respondents were recruited via online postings, correspondence with organizations and word of mouth.A survey packet was created to measure relationship satisfaction, reactions to conflict in relationships and demographic data to ascertain how similar or dissimilar the respondents were as well as their self-reported income level. Surveys were made available in paper format before being placed on an online university sponsored survey site where the majority of surveys were completed. The data were analyzed using a one way multiple analysis of variance to assess for differences in relationship satisfaction and conflict response and a chi square test of significance to assess for differences in socioeconomic status.The results showed that there was little difference between ACOD and respondents from intact families on relationship satisfaction or how they responded to conflict. Respondents from intact homes showed significantly higher scores on two of the survey subscales, investment (Multiple Determinants of Relationship Quality Inventory) and passion (Perceived Relationship Quality Components Inventory). This group also indicated that they handled conflict in their relationships better and their partners used more positive means to deal with conflict in their relationships than did the ACOD group. The ACOD respondents, however, had significantly higher income levels, which amounted to approximately two thousand dollars in salary per year.While the differences were minor, the similarity between group mean and responses would indicate that for this sample the experience of parental divorce did not create a permanent adverse effect on their SES or their ability to form healthy adult romantic relationships.