1.) Project Name:
Long-term effects of parental divorce on mental health – A meta-analysis.
2.) Research focus:
Clinical psychology
3.) Subject area:
Health psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, mental health, aversive childhood experiences, effects of aversive childhood experiences, divorce, effects of divorce
4.) Cooperation partner:
Dr, Ivo, Ponocny / MODUL Private University Vienna
5.) Project lead:
Univ.Prof. DDr. Alfred Barth (alfred.barth@sfu.ac.at)
6.) Team members:
Univ.Prof. DDr. Alfred Barth, Univ.-Ass. Felicitas Auersperg, MSc., Thomas Vlasak, BSc.
7.) Project description:
Marriage was considered the formation point of building a family for a long time, as recognised by the law of european countries. Due to this understanding, it comes to no surprise, that the increasing divorce rates are discussed in relation to possible effects on offsprings. The aim of this study is to quantify the association between the effects of parental divorce on the variables „depression“, „anxiety“, „suicide“, „alcohol“, „drugs“ and „mental health“ of involved offsprings. Studies published in PubMed regarding the period of 1990 until 2017 that investigated the effects of parental divorce on the involved offsprings were included. We carried out a systematic meta-analysis selecting odds ratios and adjusted odds ratios as the effect size. For studies that did not report the appropriate effect sizes, transformation formulas were applied to convert them into comparable measures. Effect sizes were calculated in such a way that positive values display a higher probability of the various outcome variables manifested in the involved offsprings.