Effects of parental divorce on intimacy in young adulthood.

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of divorce and gender on college students' levels of intimacy. Participants were 95 undergraduate college students from intact and divorced families. Intimacy was measured in five areas using the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships inventory. These five areas included emotional, social, sexual, intellectual, and recreational intimacy. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between students from intact families and students from divorced families on any of the five intimacy subscales. Contrary to predictions, students from divorced families did not obtain lower intimacy scores than students from intact families. Although women did score higher than men on the intellectual and recreational subscales, they did not report significantly different levels of emotional, social, or sexual intimacy. These findings suggest that parental divorce does not necessarily lead to negative outcomes for men or women. It 1_-_ is possible that children from divorced families are just as able to develop intimate relationships as children from intact families. The present study included participants in all types of relationships including friendships, family relationships, as well as romantic relationships. It is possible that children from divorced families experience more difficulty in developing intimate romantic relationships because of the lack of an appropriate model, typically the parents' relationship. Further research may benefit from distinguishing between romantic and other types of relationships. Divorce is a different experience for every family. There are several factors that contribute to a child's adjustment following parental divorce. These factors may include remarriage, level of parental conflict, and quality of relationships within the family. Additional research was suggested to address these factors.