A review of literature by Land and others reveals that parental divorce and children not living with both birth-parents correlates with higher rates of homicide by children.280 Only one of the studies that was examined showed no correlation. A Cambridge University study that followed 411 males from ages 8 to 46 shows that of boys in single parent families because of the death of the father, 17% had criminal convictions as adults.281 Of boys in single parent families because of desertion by the father, 32% had criminal convictions as adults. Children from broken homes and children from high-conflict homes had almost identical rates of juvenile convictions. Family disruption when children were 0-5 years of age or 10-14 years of age at the time of the disruption exhibited more delinquency than did children who were 5-9 years of age at the time of the disruption. Amato apparently regards the correlation between divorce and the behavioural problems of children to be so well established that it can serve as a presumption for further studies.282 One study indicates that abuse of drugs is higher among sons whose parents are divorced, but the same is not true for daughters.283 A number of studies show a correlation between parental divorce and children’s problems of mental and emotional health.284 A study about why divorce leads to psychological problems for adult children compared the influence of three factors: low educational attainment by the children of divorce, poorer interpersonal skill, quality of the relationship between parents
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Land, Kenneth, & others, “Structural covariates of homicide rates” Are there any invariances across time and social space?” American Journal of Sociology 95(1990) 922-63. 281 See Juby, Heather, & David Farrington, “Disentangling the link between disrupted families and delinquency” British Journal of Criminology 41(2001) 22-40. 282 Amato, op. cit., 1999. 283 See Needle, Richard, & others, “Divorce, remarriage, and adolescent substance use: a prospective longitudinal study” Journal of Marriage and Family 52(1990) 157-69. 284 See Angel, Ronald & Jacqueline, Painful Inheritance: Health and the New Generation of Fatherless Families, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1993; Kitson, Gay C., & William Holmes, Portrait of Divorce: Adjustment to Marital Breakdown, New York, Guilford Press, c1992, Chapter 6; Simons, Ronald, & others, “Explaining the higher incidence of adjustment problems among children of divorce compared with those of two-parent families” Journal of Marriage and Family 61(1999) 1020-33; Amato, Paul, “Children’s adjustment to divorce: theories, hypotheses and empirical support” Journal of Marriage and Family 55(1993) 23-38; Amato, Paul, “Father-child relations, mother-child relations, and offspring psychological well-being in early adulthood” Journal of Marriage and Family 56(1994) 1031-42; Amato, Paul, op. cit., 1999; Wadsworth, William, op. cit., p. 118; Smith, Thomas, op. cit.
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