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Money Matters: Young Adults’ Perception of the Economic Consequences of their Parents’ Divorce

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Abstract

A qualitative study examined the perceptions of 22 Israeli young adults (ages 20–25) of childhood parental divorce. Respondents discussed their experiences, including economic consequences of the divorce. Results related to the practical aspect of economic decline, to economic issues as embodiment of parental conflicts, and to children’s emotional and practical roles connected to economic changes. Children’s understanding and coping with financial issues are related to three profiles of overall adjustment identified in this study—resilience, survival, and vulnerability. Resilient young adults interpreted as empowering their understanding and coping; the survivors recognized their efforts as meaningful but burdensome; and vulnerable participants felt that economic changes caused a heavy financial and emotional price. Limitations and implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. All names mentioned are assumed names, in order to ensure confidentiality.

  2. For the sake of clarification, each name will be followed by designation of gender—young woman (f) or young man (m).

  3. Since his parents were separated for many years, Uri described himself as a child of divorce; yet as they were not legally divorced and some issues were not settled, he is not part of the sample and his story was analyzed separately.

  4. The size of each group is indicated as a reference, though, it being a qualitative in-depth study of a phenomenological nature, these numbers bear no statistical meaning.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is based on some of the results presented in Dr. Dorit Eldar-Avidan’s Ph.D. dissertation project. The study was partially funded by the Miriam Pelton Fund, the Henry Zucker Fund, the Martin and Vivian Levin Center for the Normal and Psychopathological Development of the Child and Adolescent (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and by a scholarship from the Ministry of Social Affairs in Israel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel

    Dorit Eldar-Avidan & Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia

  2. Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel

    Charles W. Greenbaum

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  1. Dorit Eldar-Avidan
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  2. Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia
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  3. Charles W. Greenbaum
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Correspondence to Dorit Eldar-Avidan.

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Eldar-Avidan, D., Haj-Yahia, M.M. & Greenbaum, C.W. Money Matters: Young Adults’ Perception of the Economic Consequences of their Parents’ Divorce. J Fam Econ Iss 29, 74–85 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-007-9093-4

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