Study Guide for "Parental Conflict and Marital Disruption."

The following includes a very broad set of questions to help you understand your assigned reading. You are responsible for material in the article that these questions may not directly address. That is, to do well on the quiz you must read the entire article at least once if not more than once. On the day of the quiz, you will have a five question multiple choice quiz in class. Study hard and enjoy understanding the consequences of divorce!

What two questions frame this analysis?

Does the prior research indicate whether children are better off in a high conflict marriage, if the marriage ends in a divorce, or does the impact of divorce on the children depend on the level of conflict before the divorce?

In general, does the impact of divorce and a high conflict marriage effect boys the same as girls?

What is the interaction hypothesis?

Explain the two hypotheses that this research tests.

What is a longitudinal research?

At what age on average do women have their first child in the late 1980s?

How old are the children included in the study?

How are the data collected regarding whether the children experienced any behavioral problems?

What percent of the families divorced (Table 1)?

According to Table 2, do parents who separate have higher rates of conflict then parents who remain married and what effect does divorce have on the children?

Does Figure 1 indicate that high conflict marriages are worse for children than low conflict marriages?

According to Figure 1, is the impact of divorce greater for children from high conflict marriages than from low conflict marriages?

According to Figure 1, are children better off if the high conflict marriage remains intact or ends up in divorce?

Which has a greater negative effect on children frequent marital quarrels or separation and divorce?

Did the negative impact of divorce depend on whether or not the parents fought a lot?

Which children had the greatest increase in behavior problems?

What does the authors mean when they conclude "we would not be able to distinguish children whose high-conflict parents separated from those whose high-conflict parents stayed together?