Recent studies have revealed that there is a possibility children's family life greatly affects their likelihood of divorce later on in life. In fact, according to a new survey conducted by the General Social Survey, it is believed that adults who grew up in a household with siblings are much more likely to not file for a divorce years down the road. According to this particular study, it is stated that when a child grows up with at least one or more siblings their chance of surviving a marriage improves. For every additional sibling that the person grows up with, their likelihood of divorce drops by another 2%. This study was conducted using a total of 57,061 adults, and though this cannot give the answers for the entire country, it does demonstrate a very interesting trend that is worth looking into further.
Co-author of the study, sociologist Doug Downey from Ohio State University claims that when looking at a families divorce, there are many different factors that will play into their decision to split, most of which hold more weight than whether or not they had siblings. As stated, siblings are not the deciding factor in a divorce, though researchers did find that growing up with other children allows each person to build vital social skills that are needed in a successful marriage.
One of the arguments against this study brings up the fact that only children are not growing up in the same environments as kids did back in the 1950's. For example, where an only child may have been home schooled by their stay at home mom, today they are going to public schools, participating in community sports, and interacting with many people on a regular basis. Interpersonal skills are more available to the children of our world today, though perhaps this is a correlation with the baby boomer generations divorces? As with any study, more research must be done before definitive answers can be reached.
Lauren Sandler, 38, the author of One and Only is a single mother whose child has gone through her divorce. She shares from personal experience that school is "the great equalizer" for her child to learn the interpersonal skills that are needed in everyday life. Even though her daughter is only five years of age, it allows her the chance to establish the skills needed to work through life including how to deal with conflict, building friendships and the like. Sandler believes that unless a parent is keeping their child away from all other kids, in our culture today they will naturally be exposed to these needed skills in their daily lives.
If you are considering a divorce you may be looking for a Roseville divorce lawyer who you can trust. At the Law Offices of Evan Samuelson, we have years of experience in all matters of divorce and family law and we want to help you. Give us a call today for further information.