Parental divorce and its effects on the quality of intimate relationships in adulthood

We examined whether exposure to parental divorce had any influence on quality of intimate attachments in adulthood, in a sample of 146 adults from ''divorced'' and ''intact'' families. Early attachment to parents was assessed by the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and a modification of the Personal Relationships Questionnaire (PRQ), while another modified PRQ rated attachment to the intimate partner. The ''divorced'' group scored their parents' marriage as more conflictual, and reported less care from and less attachment to their fathers. However, neither exposure to parental divorce nor exposure to parental conflict was associated with quality of attachment to adult intimates. Across the sample, general links were demonstrated between quality of parenting and quality of adult intimate relationships, reflecting either a continuity phenomenon or respondents' ratings of interpersonal relationships being influenced by general response biases.