Growing Up With More Siblings Reduces Divorce Risk

 Posted on August 20, 2013 in Divorce

A new study has found that those individuals with more brothers and sisters are less likely to divorce when compared with children who have only one or two siblings. The research explores whether the number of siblings a child has influences their likelihood of divorce in adulthood.

The results of the study are certainly an advertisement for larger families that create adults who are less likely to obtain a divorce. The research found that each additional sibling (with a cap of seven) cuts down a person's likelihood of obtaining a divorce attorney in the future by approximately 2%. The information was collected from the information regarding 57,061 adults in the General Social Survey, and this information was collected between 1972 and 2012.

Ohio State University sociologist Doug Downey is a co-author of the study. He points out that his research team has been successful in finding other determining factors that influence divorce to a more significant level, but that the impact of number of siblings is important and an expected result. The research is being presented at the American Sociological Association meeting currently behind held in New York City.

For the authors of the research, the important link could be that having additional siblings increases the social skills that are helpful in marriage. This study is really the first of its kind to report this kind of outcome, and it will be important to determine if other social science research can replicate these results.

As divorce rates are rising, more researchers are developing projects to explore the links between likelihood to divorce and various at-home impacts that are developed from childhood. Determining whether strong links exist can be helpful for considering what impacts in a person's childhood are more influential on their divorcing behavior as an adult, providing further insight about social and cultural values. If you have been considering divorce, you need the services of a Texas divorce attorney today.