Divorce Kills Kids

                                                                                                                                                               Vol. VIII, No. 8, September 1995

Back in 1921-22 a psychologist named Terman decided to study the life course of very bright kids. He selected 856 boys and 672 girls of an average age of 11 with an IQ of at least 135 from all over California. They have been regularly monitored and now after 70 years, are rapidly dying. For the first time we now can see whether the theories about what makes for longevity work.

Here are some of the key findings:

1) neither father's education or occupational status predicted longevity.

2) mother's education didn't predict longevity.

3) divorce of mother and father predicted earlier death.

Those whose parents divorced lived, on average, 4 years less than those whose parents didn't divorce. Among men, the predicted median age of death for those whose parents stayed married was 80, for those whose parents got divorced it was 76. For women the corresponding figures were 86 and 82.

Only 13% of the 1,285 children's parents got divorced (marriages were more stable then), but that divorce caused grief and death for both the parents and the children! Further, the causes of death among the children were distributed proportionately across the various ways to die (i.e., special factors like suicide or substance abuse did not account for the four year differential).

4) death of a parent had very little effect.

5) having had a personal divorce predicted to earlier death. Those who remarried had a higher rate of death, those who didn’t remarry had an even higher rate of death.

6) those children, especially boys, who were rated by parents and teachers as "prudent, conscientious, truthful, and free from vanity" lived significantly longer.

7) the personality trait of "sociability" or extraversion did not predict to longer life. In fact, those who grew up to be scientists tended to be less social and also to live longer.

8) "Cheerfulness and a sense of humor" tended to predict to shorter lives, possibly because these were the kinds of folk w ho were more likely to smoke, drink, and take risks (each of which predicts to a shorter life span).

9) consumption of alcohol was monotonically associated with a shortened life. A number of theorists (and many producers of alcohol) have suggested that the net effect of a drink or two a day would be beneficial. But there was no demonstrable benefit to “a glass of wine” a day or the like.

10) smoking was associated with a shortened life.

11) poor “mental health” or low “morale” was associated with shorter life.

12) obesity was not associated with a shortened life.

If a male who was truthful, honest, conscientious, and prudent had parents who stayed married, he lived, on average, 7 years longer (to a media age of 81, instead of 74 for those who weren’t etc. and whose parents divorced).

Parents who stay with their children apparently give them the gift of life - even after they themselves have passed away. Similarly, parents who get divorced are cursing not only themselves (divorce “costs” almost 4 years of longevity), but also their children.

Note 1. Friedman, HS, Tucker, JE, Tomlinson-Keasey C, Martin LR, Wingard DL, Criqui, MH. “Psychosocial and behavioral predictors of longevity: the aging and death of the ‘Temites.’” American Psychologist, 1995: 50, 69-78.

[Reprinted from Family Research Report, March-April 1995. The monthly Report may be ordered from Family Research Institute, Inc.; P.O. Box 2092; 20013; 703-690-8536. $20 per year.]