The Consequences of Divorce for Attitudes Toward Divorce and Gender Roles.

This article studies the consequences of divorce for attitudes toward divorce and gender roles. Parental divorce is also likely to have implications for children's views on gender roles. Most children of divorce live in mother-headed families. Single mothers are particularly likely to be employed in the paid labor force, and maternal employment has been found to be associated with egalitarian views about the roles of women and men especially among daughters. On the other hand, children growing up without a father in the house- hold may turn to other sources, such as the media, for information about the roles of men. This may lead children of divorce to adopt relatively stereotyped views about gender-particularly in relation to the male role. If this is the case, then adults from divorced families of origin may be relatively conventional in their attitudes about the roles of men and women. Parental divorce was associated with liberal attitudes toward women in politics but was not associated with attitudes toward the employment of married women or rejection of traditional gender behaviors in children.