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Remarriage after divorce weakens children’s relationship with their fathers

Men who remarry after divorce have weaker relationships with the children of earlier marriages, a new study has found.

According to the University of Wisconsin study, such men see the children of earlier marriages less frequently and are also less likely to give them practical assistance like money:

“Divorced mid- to late-life fathers who repartner have notably less contact with and are less likely to transfer money to their adult children from a prior union.,” the report notes.

In addition:

“Cohabitation has similarly negative implications for divorced fathers’ relations with their adult children.”

But if the man’s new wife has stepchildren, these will not affect his relationship to the same extent as new biological children, study author Claire Noël-Miller reports.

Around 75 per cent of divorcees go on to remarry and men do so at higher rates than women.

The study, entitled Repartnering following divorce: Implications for fathers’ relations with their adult children after midlife, and appears in the current June 2013 edition of the Journal of Marriage and Family.

It is the first to specifically examine the effect of remarriage on men’s relationship with their children. It is based on data from the ongoing Health and Retirement Study, a national study of Americans over the age of 50.

The blog team at Stowe is a group of writers based across our family law offices who share their advice on the wellbeing and emotional aspects of divorce or separation from personal experience. As well as pieces from our family law solicitors, guest contributors also regularly contribute to share their knowledge.

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Comments(3)

  1. Lukey says:

    Did we really need a study to tell us the bl***ing obvious ?

    Next study : Where do bears s**t ?

  2. Observer says:

    I agree, but I suppose our tax money funding studies that tell us the obvious is preferable to ones that willfully distort the truth in order to push an unhealthy agenda or gain financial support for charities that promote hatred of the male species.

  3. Yvie says:

    What about women who re-marry and try to freeze out the biological father?

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