Survey in S’pore Shows Children With Divorced Parents Earn Less, Are Less Educated & Less Likely to Marry

The entire process of divorcing, especially where there are children involved, is more than a one-time thing.

It holds numerous consequences.

And more often than not, it’s not so much of the divorced parties bearing the brunt of the repercussions…

But the affiliated children themselves.

Survey in S’pore Shows Children With Divorced Parents Earn Less, Are Less Educated & Less Likely to Marry

A study – named Inter-generational Effects of Divorce on Children in Singapore – has found that children of divorced parents tend to encounter long-term “divorce penalties” or consequent disadvantages throughout their lives.

They are also more likely to get divorced themselves, and are found to earn less than their peers whose parents stayed attached.

The local study was done by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), and employed the marital and economic records of more than 100,000 Singaporean children born between 1979 and 1981.

In addition, the study also found that:

• Children from broken families were less likely to attain a University degree
• Children from broken families were less likely to get married

In general, it appears that the differences in both sets of children are statistically prominent.

“Based on overseas literature on divorce, children who experienced parental divorce potentially face negative consequences even into adulthood,” said an MSF spokesman.

“The MSF’s study aims to examine if Singaporean children of divorcees suffer long-term disadvantages, and if so, the extent of these disadvantages.”

MSF Minister Masagos Zulkifli has since pointed out the importance of a healthy family, and emphasised the need for post-divorce lifestyles to be of a positive manner.

“With this landmark study, we now know that the effects of divorce on a child are not temporary, and impact the child’s future, his education and his family when he marries. This is why post-divorce, positive co-parenting is so important.”

Factors Behind The Negative Connotation

According to The Straits Times, some of the sociologists and counsellors interviewed have given insight into the factors that may be at play here.

Singapore Management University sociologist Paulin Straughan said: “With every marriage dissolution, there is a high likelihood that the well-being of the family unit (in terms of financial, social and emotional assets) is reduced.”

Drawn-out tensions within the family, as well as a decrease in financial and emotional resources, end up affecting the child in various ways.

Not Conclusive

However, some experts have also cautioned that the study cannot be taken as a conclusive one.

This, according to Professor Jean Yeung, founding director of the Centre for Family and Population Research at the National University of Singapore, is because of the many variables at play.

For instance, variables such as personal circumstances and characteristics could lead to the child’s own disadvantages in the long run.

“Hence, the lower achievement of the child is not caused by the divorce, though it may be exacerbated by the divorce,” said Professor Yeung.

The Institute of Policy Studies’ senior research fellow Mathew Mathews concurs, stating that not every child from a broken family reacts in the same way.

“The availability of adequate support perhaps from the extended family and community can mediate the extent of negative effects that children experience post divorce.”

This is a notion that has come under the study’s own admittance.

“While the results might not strictly inform us of the causal impact of divorce, they provide an indicative sense of children’s long-term outcomes associated with parental divorce, which would in turn help inform interventions for children when couples file for divorce.”

However, in spite of any existing arguments, one thing appears to be certain: A healthy family relationship would certainly prove beneficial to an individual’s growth

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