Racial differences in the effects of parental divorce and separation on children: Generalizing the evidence to a European case

Much American research has shown that the effects of parental divorce and single parenthood on children are weaker among African Americans than among whites. So far, this moderator effect has not been studied in other societies. Are there also weaker effects of parental divorce and single parenthood for blacks in other countries? We answer this question by analyzing Caribbeans in the Netherlands. We analyze effects of parental divorce and separation on eight outcome indicators for children in adulthood and we compare these effects between Caribbeans and whites. We show that for Caribbeans there are no effects of parental divorce on own divorce, cohabitation, leaving home, and contact frequency with the father, much in contrast to the effects for whites. For socioeconomic outcomes, however, the effects are similar for Caribbeans and whites. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.