Feelings of Guilt in the Family: The Case of Divorced Parents

TY - CHAP

T1 - Feelings of Guilt in the Family: The Case of Divorced Parents

AU - Kalmijn, M.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Guilt is believed to be a common emotion in personal relationships. Few studies, however, have examined if guilt plays a role in the divorce process. The present chapter uses unique nationally representative survey data which included questions on the extent to which parents have feelings of guilt toward their (young or adult) children (N = 3,203). By comparing married and divorced parents while controlling for an elaborate set of control variables, we describe the effect of divorce on guilt. By testing a series of variables that may moderate the divorce effect, we subsequently try to explain why divorce affects guilt. Our findings show that there are significant effects of divorce on the feelings of guilt that parents have toward their children. These effects are stronger when parents have more traditional atti-tudes toward family issues, in line with moral explanations of guilt. The effects are also stronger when the relationship between the child and parent is stronger, in line with explanations of guilt in terms of altruism.

AB - Guilt is believed to be a common emotion in personal relationships. Few studies, however, have examined if guilt plays a role in the divorce process. The present chapter uses unique nationally representative survey data which included questions on the extent to which parents have feelings of guilt toward their (young or adult) children (N = 3,203). By comparing married and divorced parents while controlling for an elaborate set of control variables, we describe the effect of divorce on guilt. By testing a series of variables that may moderate the divorce effect, we subsequently try to explain why divorce affects guilt. Our findings show that there are significant effects of divorce on the feelings of guilt that parents have toward their children. These effects are stronger when parents have more traditional atti-tudes toward family issues, in line with moral explanations of guilt. The effects are also stronger when the relationship between the child and parent is stronger, in line with explanations of guilt in terms of altruism.

KW - divorce

KW - well-being

KW - children

KW - intergenerational relations

KW - guilt

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-25838-2_13

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-25838-2_13

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-3-030-25837-5

T3 - European Studies of Population

SP - 271

EP - 289

BT - Divorce in Europe

A2 - Mortelmans, D.

PB - Springer

ER -