Abstract
Research suggests that children who live with two biological married parents are less likely to exhibit behavioral problems than children who do not. While research on childhood outcomes often focuses on the nature of the family structure itself, recent studies have pointed to relationship quality between parents, and between parents and children, as important mechanisms through which family structure affects children. However, the independent influence of these two mechanisms—relationship quality between parents and between parents and children—on childhood outcomes has never, to our knowledge, been tested outside of a high-income western environment. Using the Korean Youth Panel Study (KYPS), we use cross-sectional and longitudinal GEE models to examine the influence of family structure, parent–child relationship quality, and parental conflict on internalizing and externalizing behavior problems among 2844 adolescents in South Korea, a high-income, non-western context with relatively little family structure instability. We found that family structure, parental conflict, and parent–child relationship quality were all significantly related to child well-being. Children living in family structures other than with their two married biological parents were more likely to report internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Further, parental conflict was negatively related to child well-being, while parent–child relationship quality was positively related to child well-being. These findings show that interpersonal relationships are important to children across family structures and should be included in studies examining how families impact child well-being. Our study also reinforces the importance of looking at family structures and processes in non-western contexts.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amato, P. R., & Keith, B. (1991). Parental divorce and the well-being of children: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin,110(1), 26–46.
Amato, P. R., & Booth, A. (1996). A prospective study of divorce and parent-child relationships. Journal of Marriage and the Family,58(2), 356–365.
Amato, P. R., Loomis, L. S., & Booth, A. (1995). Parental divorce, marital conflict, and offspring well-being during early adulthood. Social Forces,73(3), 895–915.
Amato, P. R., & Anthony, C. J. (2014). Estimating the effects of parental divorce and death with fixed effects models. Journal of Marriage and Family,76(2), 370–386.
Aquilino, W. S. (2006). The noncustodial father–child relationship from adolescence into young adulthood. Journal of Marriage and Family,68(4), 928–946.
Bachman, H. J., Coley, R. L., & Carrano, J. (2011). Maternal relationship instability influences on children’s emotional and behavioral functioning in low-income families. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,39(8), 1149–1161.
Booth, A., & Amato, P. R. (2001). Parental predivorce relations and offspring postdivorce well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family,63(1), 197–212.
Braithwaite, S., Steele, E., Spjut, K., & Dowdle, K. K. (2015). Parent-child connectedness mediates the association between marital conflict and children’s internalizing/externalizing outcomes. Journal of Child Family Studies,24(12), 3690–3699.
Brown, S. L. (2010). Marriage and child well-being: Research and policy perspectives. Journal of Marriage and Family,72, 1059–1077.
Carballo, J., García-Nieto, R., Álvarez-García, R., Caro-Cañizares, I., López-Castromán, J., Muñoz-Lorenzo, L., et al. (2013). Sibship size, birth order, family structure and childhood mental disorders. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology,48(8), 1327–1333.
Chen, M., & Yip, P. S. F. (2018). Decomposing the crude divorce rate in five countries: Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, the UK, and Australia. Asian Population Studies,2, 137–152.
Cherlin, A. J., Furstenberg, F. F., Jr., Chase-Linsdale, P. L., Kiernan, K. E., Robins, P. K., Morrison, D. R., et al. (1991). Longitudinal studies of effects of divorce on children in great Britain and the United States. Science,252(5011), 1386–1389.
Chung, Y., & Emery, R. (2010). Early adolescents and divorce in South Korea: Risk, resilience and pain. Journal of Contemporary Family Studies,41(5), 855–870.
Cox, M. J., & Paley, B. (1997). Families as systems. Annual Review of Psychology,48(1), 243–267.
Creighton, M. J., Park, H., & Teruel, G. M. (2009). The role of migration and single motherhood in upper secondary education in Mexico. Journal of Marriage and Family,71(5), 1325–1339.
Cummings, E. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (1981). Young children's responses to expressions of anger and affection by others in the family. Child Development,52(4), 1274–1282.
Cummings, E. M. (1987). Coping with background anger in early childhood. Child Development,58(4), 976–984.
Dommaraju, P., & Jones, G. (2011). Divorce Trends in Asia. Asian Journal of Social Science,39(6), 725–750.
Dufur, M. J., & Alexander, A. (2017). Does childhood family structure help create stratification in adult education and labor market attainment? An argument for the selectivity perspective. Sociology Compass,11(1), 1–13.
Erel, O., & Burman, B. (1995). Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent-child relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin,118(1), 108–132.
Eun, K. S. (2007) Family values in Korea: A comparative analysis. In Paper presented at the 2007 World Family Policy Forum, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
Fincham, F. D., & Osborne, L. N. (1993). Marital conflict and children: retrospect and prospect. Clinical Psychology Review,13(1), 75–88.
Fomby, P., & Cherlin, A. J. (2007). Family instability and child well-being. American Sociological Review,72(2), 181–204.
Gorman, G. H., Eide, M., & Hisle-Gorman, E. (2010). Wartime military deployment and increased pediatric mental and behavioral health complaints. Pediatrics,126(6), 1058–1066.
Han, Y. R., Jeong, G. H., & Kim, S. (2017). Factors influencing beliefs about intimate partner violence among adults in South Korea. Public Health Nursing,34, 412–421.
Hoffmann, J. P. (2002). The community context of family structure and adolescent drug use. Journal of Marriage and Family,64(2), 314–330.
Hoffmann, J. P. (2017). Family structure and adolescent substance use: An international perspective. Substance Use and Misuse,52(13), 1667–1683.
Jekielek, S. M. (1998). Parental conflict, marital disruption and children's emotional well-being. Social Forces,76(3), 905–936.
Johnson, D. R., & Young, R. (2011). Toward best practices in analyzing datasets with missing data: Comparisons and recommendations. Journal of Marriage and Family,73(5), 926–945.
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1993). Patterns of marital conflict predict children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Developmental Psychology,29(6), 940–950.
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1994). Patterns of marital interaction and children’s emotional development. In R. D. Parke & S. G. Kellam (Eds.), Family research consortium: Advances in family research. Exploring family relationships with other social contexts (pp. 49–74). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Kim, H. S. (2011). Consequences of parental divorce for child development. American Sociological Review,76(3), 486–511.
Kim, J., Park, S., & Emery, C. R. (2009). The incidence and impact of family violence on mental health among South Korean women: Results of a national survey. Journal of Family Violence,24, 193.
Ko, Y., & Park, S. (2020). Building a new intimate relationship after experiencing intimate partner violence in victim-SURVIVORS of South Korea. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,35(1–2), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518814265.
Kouros, C. D., Papp, L. M., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Cummings, E. M. (2014). Spillover between marital quality and parent-child relationship quality: Parental depressive symptoms as moderators. Journal of Family Psychology,28(3), 315–325.
Leadbeater, B. J., Kuperminc, G. P., Blatt, S. J., & Hertzog, C. (1999). A multivariate model of gender differences in adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Developmental Psychology,35(5), 1268–1282.
Lee, Y. J. (2006). Risk factors in the rapidly rising incidence of divorce in Korea. Asian Population Studies,2(2), 113–131.
Lee, D., & McLanahan, S. S. (2015). Family structure transitions and child development: Instability, selection, and population heterogeneity. American Sociological Review,80(4), 738–763.
Lesthaeghe, R. (2010). The unfolding story of the second demographic transition. Population and Development Review,36(2), 211–251.
Margolin, G. (1988). Marital conflict is not marital conflict is not marital conflict. In R. D. Peters & R. J. McMahon (Eds.), Social learning and systems approaches to marriage and the family (pp. 193–216). Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.
McCulloch, A., Wiggins, R. D., Joshi, H. E., & Sachdev, D. (2000). Internalising and externalising children's behaviour problems in Britain and the US: Relationships to family resources. Children & Society,14(5), 368–383.
McLanahan, S. S., & Sandefur, G. (1994). Growing up with a single parent: What hurts, what helps. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Morrison, D. R., & Coiro, M. J. (1999). Parental conflict and marital disruption: Do children benefit when high-conflict marriages are dissolved? Journal of Marriage and Family,61(3), 626–637.
National Youth Policy Institute. (2012). Korea Youth Panel Survey- Elementary 4th grade User’s guide. Seoul, South Korea: National Youth Policy Institute
OECD. (2016). SF2.3.B: Mean age of women at first birth, 1995 and 2016 or latest available. OECD Family Database. Retrieved July 25, 2019 from https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/SF_2_3_Age_mothers_childbirth.pdf.
OECD. (2017). How does Korea compare? The Pursuit of gender equality: An uphill battle. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264281318-en
OECD. (2018a). SF3.1: Marriage and divorce rates. OECD Family Database. Retrieved July 20, 2019 from https://www.oecd.org/els/family/SF_3_1_Marriage_and_divorce_rates.pdf.
OECD. (2018b). SF2.4.A: Share of births outside of marriage: Proportion (%) of all births where the mother's marital status at the time of birth is other than married, 2016. OECD Family Database. Retrieved July 26, 2019 form https://www.oecd.org/els/family/SF_2_4_Share_births_outside_marriage.pdf.
OECD. (2018c). Population with tertiary education (indicator). Retrieved January 15, 2020 from https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm.
Park, H. (2007). Single parenthood and children's reading performance in Asia. Journal of Marriage and Family,69(3), 863–877.
Park, H. (2008). Effects of single parenthood on educational aspiration and student disengagement in Korea. Demographic Research,18(13), 377–408.
Park, H., & Raymo, J. (2013). Divorce in Korea: trends and educational differentials. Journal of Marriage and Family,75(1), 110–126.
Park, H. (2014). Single parenthood and children’s education in Republic of Korea: An update. In H. Park & K.-K. Kim (Eds.), Korean education in changing economic and demographic 153 contexts, education in the Asia-Pacific region: Issues, concerns and prospects (Vol. 23). Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4451-27-7_9
Park, G. R., Park, E. J., Jun, J., & Kim, N. S. (2017). Association between intimate partner violence and mental health among Korean married women. Public Health,152, 86–94.
Pew Research Center. (2015). The link between a college education and a lasting marriage. Retrieved November 13, 2018 from https://pewrsr.ch/1lf7xu9.
Pribesh, S., & Downey, D. B. (1999). Why are residential and school moves associated with poor school performance? Demography,36(4), 5212–5534.
Raymo, J. M., Park, H., Xie, Y., & Yeung, W.-J. J. (2015). Marriage and family in East Asia: Continuity and change. Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 471–492.
Riggio, H. R. (2004). Parental marital conflict and divorce, parent-child relationships, social support, and relationship anxiety in young adulthood. Personal Relationships,11(1), 99–114.
Statistics Korea. (2013). Status of divorces and remarriages for the past three decades. Marriage and divorce. Retrieved August 5, 2019 from https://kostat.go.kr/portal/eng/pressReleases/8/11/index.board?bmode=download&bSeq=&aSeq=311954&ord=1.
Statistics Korea. (2018a). Mean age of mother by birth order for provinces. Statistical database, vital statistics. Retrieved August 15, 2019 from https://kosis.kr/eng/statisticsList/statisticsListIndex.do?menuId=M_01_01&vwcd=MT_ETITLE&parmTabId=M_01_01&statId=1962004&themaId=#SelectStatsBoxDiv.
Statistics Korea. (2018b). Live births by marital legitimacy for provinces, annual 1981–2017. Statistical database, vital statistics. Retrieved August 5, 2019 from https://kosis.kr/eng/statisticsList/statisticsListIndex.do?menuId=M_01_01&vwcd=MT_ETITLE&parmTabId=M_01_01&statId=1962004&themaId=#SelectStatsBoxDiv.
Thomson, E., & McLanahan, S. S. (2012). Reflections on “family structure and child well-being: economic resources vs. parental socialization”. Social Forces,91(1), 45–53.
Vandecasteele, L., & Debels, A. (2006). Attrition in panel data: The effectiveness of weighting. European Sociological Review,23(1), 81–97.
von Hippel, P. T. (2007). Regression with missing Ys: An improved strategy for analyzing multiply imputed data. Sociological Methodology, 37(1), 83–117.
Waldfogel, J., Craigie, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2010). Fragile families and child wellbeing. Future of Children,20(2), 87–112.
Wheaton, B. (1990). Life transitions, role histories, and mental health. American Sociological Review,55(2), 209–223.
Wildeman, C., Wakefield, S., & Turney, K. (2013). Misidentifying the effects of parental incarceration? A comment on Johnson and Easterling (2012). Journal of Marriage and Family,75(1), 252–258.
Yoo, H. J. (2015). Living Cohabitation in the Republic of Korea: The Reported Experiences of Lesbians, Gays and Heterosexuals. PhD thesis, University of York.
Yu, T., Petit, G. S., Lansford, J. E., Dodge, K. A., & Bates, J. E. (2010). The interactive effects of marital conflict and divorce on parent—adult children’s relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family,72(2), 282–292.
Zorn, C. J. W. (2001). Generalized estimating equation models for correlated data: A review with applications. American Journal of Political Science,45, 470–490.
Acknowledgements
We want to acknowledge the contributions of John Hoffmann, Alyssa Alexander, Carolina Otero, and Can Cheng from Brigham Young University. This research was supported by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to the Population Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University for Population Research Infrastructure (P2C HD041025) and Family Demography Training (T32 HD007514).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jarvis, J.A., Gibby, A.L., Dufur, M.J. et al. Family Structure and Child Well-Being in a Non-western Context: The Role of Parent–Child Relations and Parental Conflict in South Korea. Popul Res Policy Rev 39, 439–464 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09586-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09586-8