Psychological and sociological research about individuals with multiple divorces

Liberals, leftists and atheists have consistently gotten divorced at higher rates than social conservatives, which some say strains the sanctity of marriage.

See also: Atheism and divorce

The abstract for the journal article Personality and multiple divorce. A prospective study. indicates:

"A review of cross-sectional and prospective research in both normal and clinical samples suggests that increased risk of divorce is associated with socially nonconforming, impulsive, and stimulus-seeking personality traits. This exploratory study addresses the question of whether individuals who divorce more than once are especially likely to exhibit such general personality dispositions. Subjects were male physicians (N = 431) who had completed the MMPI before entering medical school and who were followed up more than two decades later by a mail questionnaire that inquired about their health status, health practices, subjective well-being, and marital history. As indicated by higher scores on the MMPI Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) scale and greater likelihood of concurrently reporting several negative health practices (e.g., cigarette smoking), multiply divorced physicians did tend to exhibit greater nonconforming, impulsive, and risk-taking tendencies than both never-divorced and once-divorced physicians. Possible social-psychological processes linking such personality dispositions to the risk of multiple divorce are discussed, along with suggestions for further research."

The abstract for the journal article Personality Disorder Symptoms Are Differentially Related to Divorce Frequency states:

"Divorce is associated with a multitude of outcomes related to health and well-being. Data from a representative community sample (N = 1,241) of St. Louis residents (ages 55–64) were used to examine associations between personality pathology and divorce in late midlife. Symptoms of the 10 DSM–IV personality disorders were assessed with the Structured Interview for DSM–IV Personality and the Multisource Assessment of Personality Pathology (both self and informant versions). Multiple regression analyses showed Paranoia and Histrionic personality disorder symptoms to be consistently and positively associated with number of divorces across all three sources of personality assessment. Conversely, Avoidant personality disorder symptoms were negatively associated with number of divorces. The present paper provides new information about the relationship between divorce and personality pathology at a developmental stage that is understudied in both domains."

For more information, please see:

• Histrionic personality disorder and divorce

• Paranoid personality disorder and divorce

Narcissism and invididuals who have multiple divorces

See also: Narcissism and individuals who have had multiple divorces and Narcissistic personality disorder and Narcissistic rage and Narcissism

Narcissism is excessive love of oneself.

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) entails behaviors and attitudes that are designed to preserve a self-image of perfection, entitlement, and superiority.

Narcissistic rage is an outburst of intense anger or silence that can happen to someone with narcissistic personality disorder.

According the Cleveland Clinic:

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Experts aren’t sure how common NPD is. According to research data, between 0.5% and 5% of people in the U.S. may have it. Between 50% and 75% of cases affect men and people assigned male at birth (AMAB). However, many people hide narcissistic beliefs or behaviors (informally known as “covert narcissism”). Because of that, it’s hard to estimate how many people truly have NPD.

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NPD often goes undiagnosed because many people with the condition are reluctant they have issues with narcissism because they think that their problems associated with the condition are all about everyone else and not about them Due to what they they perceive as insults to self-esteem, it is often difficult for NPD patients to accept and follow through with treatment.

The abstract for journal article Personality characteristics of Divorce-Prone individuals: A preliminary clinical study published in the journal Contemporary Family Therapy indicates:

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This study focuses on Divorce-Prone individuals and the question of why some persons fail in one marriage after another. The authors studied 12 individuals who had each been divorced two or more times. They found that the cases fell into one of three broad and overlapping groups. The groups have been called the Self-Involved Narcissists, the Compliant Depressed, and the Casualties of Life's Vicissitudes. The individuals and the groups demonstrate a different etiology, different treatment problems, and a very different prognosis.

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According to the psychologist Holly Parker who teaches the course "The Psychology of Close Relationships" at Harvard University, "Research does suggest that people who marry multiple times are more likely (than people who do not marry multiple times) to have personality traits and issues with emotional health that make it difficult to maintain satisfying, long-term relationships. That can mean, even if you're not looking for anything lasting, you won't have much fun with a narcissist whose self-absorption and emotional detachment helped end several marriages."

Multiple divorces and its effect on children

See also: Multiple divorces and its effect on children and Divorce, single-parent households and its negative effects on children

Studies comparing families of multiple divorce with families of single divorces have found that children with more family disruptions report higher levels of anxiety and depression, worse academic records and more troubled marriages of their own.

• Understanding the Divorce Cycle: The Children of Divorce in their Own Marriages by Nicholas H Wolfinger, University of Utah, Cambridge University Press, June 2005, Edition: 1st, DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511499616: Abstract: "Growing up in a divorced family can cause the children to have difficulties in maintaining relationships. Nicholas Wolfinger demonstrates the significant impact of parental divorce upon people's lives and society. The divorce cycle phenomena ensures the transmission of divorce from one generation to the next. This book examines how it has transformed family life in contemporary America by drawing on two national data sets. Compared to people from intact families, the children of divorced parents are more likely to marry as teenagers, but less likely to wed overall. They are more likely to marry other people from divorced families, but more likely to dissolve second and third marriages, and less likely to marry their live-in partners."

"Studies comparing families of multiple divorce with families of single divorces have found that children with more family disruptions report higher levels of anxiety and depression, worse academic records and more troubled marriages of their own." - Fractured Families: Dealing With Multiple Divorce -- A special report.; Struggling to Find Stability When Divorce Is a Pattern by Susan Chira, New York Times, March 19, 1995

• Shared parenting agreements after marital separation: the roles of empathy and narcissism, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1996 Aug;64(4):808-18.

• Study: Children of multiple divorces likely to do the same, CNN, 1997

The abstract for the 1984 journal article The Wall Gang: a study of interpersonal process and deviance among twenty-three middle-class youths published in the journal Adolescence indicates:

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This paper reports the findings of a nonparticipant observational study of a "gang" of late-adolescent, middle-class youths in a Southern California beach community over an 11-year period. The significance of family background, interpersonal relationships in the home, and socialization processes were explored in relation to such factors as the use of drugs, sexual experiences, and other "deviant" behavior. The author also interviewed and interacted with other youths in the community of the same age range and similar socioeconomic background who were not members of the "gang." Case narration is supplemented by demographic data. The "gang" approximated Lewis Yablonsky's description of a "near-group." The youths were from above-average economic background, but 21 of the 23 "members" were from broken homes, frequently with multiple divorces and remarriages. The youths expressed attitudes of disgust with adult society and doubted the concern of their parents, particularly fathers and stepfathers, for their well-being. The youths sought out both "mother-figures" on whom they could be dependent for financial support as well as "father-figures" who would teach them to become independent. These "gang members" had erratic school and employment patterns. The types of drugs used by "nongang" youths, who had more stable family backgrounds, did not differ appreciably from those used by the "gang." The former group was distinguished in their use of drugs and alcohol by lower frequency and less tendency to use drugs in order to reduce anxiety or to facilitate their relations with the opposite sex."

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The 1995 New York Times article Fractured Families: Dealing With Multiple Divorce -- A special report.; Struggling to Find Stability When Divorce Is a Pattern indicates:

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Annie's children, like countless across the country, are part of an increasingly common American family -- the one that is formed, shattered, reformed and shattered again in the wake of repeated divorces and breakups. These children struggle to navigate a bewildering succession of stepparents, stepsiblings and live-in relationships that have no formal name. Researchers who follow these children say their ranks are swelling and their lives are often rocky. Studies comparing families of multiple divorce with families of single divorces have found that children with more family disruptions report higher levels of anxiety and depression, worse academic records and more troubled marriages of their own. The more breakups children experience, the studies show, the worse they fare. "You get cumulative effects," said Lawrence A. Kurdek, a professor of psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and the author of one such study. "You're losing or gaining a lot more than a parent; you're changing households, schools, friends. The kids get rooted; they get uprooted. Their overall sense of stability has got to be pretty shaky."... Frank F. Furstenberg Jr. and Andrew J. Cherlin, two leading divorce researchers, estimate that 15 percent of all children in divorced families will see the parent they live with remarry and redivorce before they reach age 18. And that figure is a conservative estimate, they say, because it does not include couples who live together instead of remarry... Researchers caution that much of the damage of single or repeated divorces depends on factors that are hard to measure: how much conflict dogged the relationship and the breakup, how much continuity parents are able to preserve in children's lives and how well parents who are bruised themselves are able to help their children. And while most children of multiple divorces are not consigned to bleak fates, the upheavals take their toll.

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Hollywood values and multiple divorces

See also: Hollywood values and disrespect for marriage

• "Yet even in the financially solvent celebrity world, 'double divorcees' are commonplace." - Actress Billie Piper, a decade after her divorce from DJ Chris Evans.", The Daily Mail, 2016

• 40 Celebrities Who Have Been Married Three Or More Times, Women's Health, 2020

• 11 Hollywood celebrities who got married at least 3 times, South China Morning Post, 2022

For more information, please see: Hollywood values and disrespect for marriage

See also

• Causes of divorce
• Personality disorders and divorce
• Paranoid personality disorder and divorce
• Paranoid personality disorder and divorce
• Toxic personality traits
• Dark Triad personality traits
• Personality

External links

• The High Failure Rate of Second and Third Marriages by Mark Banschick M.D., Psychology Today, 2012

• Even With Maturity and Experience, Second Marriages Are Even More Likely to End in Divorce Than First Ones, Good Housekeeping