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Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1, 5-21 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1077727X07303494

Revisiting Reuben Hill's Theory of Familial Response to Stressors: The Mediating Role of Mental Outlook for Offspring of Divorce

Susan Frazier Kahl

North Greenville University

Lala Carr Steelman

University of South Carolina

Lynn M. Mulkey

University of South Carolina

Pamela Ray Koch

University of South Carolina

William L. Dougan

University of Wisconsin, Whitewater

Sophia Catsambis

City University of New York

With data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), the authors probe the link between parental and second-generation divorce. They investigate whether parental divorce and offspring's subsequent marital behavior are related to mental outlook. Existing literature maintains that children who experience parental divorce are more likely to divorce than their counterparts, yet explanations for this pattern remain contested. Drawing from Reuben Hill's classic ABCX model, the authors derive an analytical model that includes personal as opposed to interpersonal aspects of family crises. Only one factor produces mediating effects. Parental divorce depresses offspring self-satisfaction as opposed to their marital commitment, which subsequently leads to greater odds of their divorce and marital unhappiness. These results suggest the utility of mental outlook in future analytical models and lend continuing support to the viability of Reuben Hill's perspective for disentangling the complexities of family behaviors.

Key Words: divorce • Reuben Hill • marital happiness • intergenerational effects of divorce • offspring of divorce


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