Impacts of Parents' Divorce on Chinese Children: A Model with Academic Performance as a Mediator

The study examined the impact of parents' divorce on Chinese children's well-being. A Chinese theoretical model was tested using Structural Equation Modeling. The sample consisted of 940 Chinese children aged 6-16. The well-being of children from divorced families was compared with that of two-parent and widowed families. The results showed that children's academic performance mediated the negative impact of divorce on children's well-being. The societal discriminating attitude towards divorce and single-parent families had a strong negative effect on the children's well-being. Parenting skills of the custodial parent had more influence on the children's well-being than the marital conflicts prior to the divorce. Supports from the extended families counterbalanced some negative effects associated with divorce. (C) 2007 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved.