Divorce is always painful, not just to the two individuals who used to love each other but especially to their children. While everyone is hurting with separation or divorce, a new study revealed that family breakups are harder on girls.
According to The Huffington Post, the relationship a daughter has with her father has a profound influence in her life. When the family breaks up, the dynamic of the father-daughter relationship is challenged.
A new study from University of Illinois examined the overall health, depression and smoking as a health-related behavior and found that all three are worse among girls, Science Daily reported.
"Girls' health is more sensitive to family structure," said Andrea Beller, who studies educational attainment and the effects of single-parent family living. "Prior research shows that family breakups affect boys more than girls through cognitive, educational, and emotional channels. We find that, if you grow up in a non-traditional family structure -- single parent or step-parent or a cohabiting relationship, girls are more likely than boys to be depressed and report worse overall health."
The study selected a subsample of 7,607 individuals aged 15 to 18 at the first collection in 1996. Of those, 4,757 aged 27 to 32 remained in the sample at the most recent data collection in 2009. The sample was selected using the criteria such as single-mother homes where the mother reported both her marital history and presence or absence of the child's biological father. Individuals whose fathers had died were excluded in the study.
"In other studies, if the biological father left and later came back, it misclassifies him as always there," Beller said. "In addition, most other research projects on this topic are static. They look at a single point or short period in time. In this study, we follow the individuals into adulthood and factor in how old the child was when the biological father left the home."
The study also pointed out that the age of the girls at the time of the separation matters. Beller explained that, when girls are between ages 6 and 10, they are particularly vulnerable. The early absence of a father is associated with smoking behavior, overall health and depression into adulthood.
"We find that if the biological father was never present, smoking, physical, and mental health are all worse," Beller added. "And if they leave when girls are in very early childhood (0 to 5 years old), we find a significant association with worse physical health, regardless of the presence of other males."
Beller worked with Alex Slade in the said study. They used the National Longitudinal study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health), which is consist of data collected from 90,000 adolescents in four waves over 13 years.
"Family structure and young adult health outcomes," written by Beller, Slade and Elizabeth T. Powers, was published in the Review of Economics of the Household.
