Child Disability and Marital Stability: Evidence Using Matched Records from the 1993 NHIS and the 1995 NSFG

Carrie E. Spearin, Brown University
Jennifer M. Park, Brown University
Maryhelen D'Ottavi, Brown University
Fran Goldscheider, Brown University

The birth of a child can instantly change the relationship between two parents, as care-giving needs of children can exact an emotional and financial toll on the family. These changes can become even more intense and varied if the child has a disability (Schlesinger 1987). While some research suggests that the family stress associated with child disability brings the family together and strengthens the marital bond, other research points to increased instability (Darling 1987). Parents of children with disabilities often face overwhelming care giving responsibilities that can change their personal and professional lives. The extreme and unanticipated demands on parents?time can contribute to the emotional stress experienced. Likewise, parents may also experience a sense of guilt in fearing that they are in some way responsible for their child’s health condition. These feelings of guilt and frustration are often directed away from the child, and targeted at the one’s spouse. Parents may, therefore, engage in angry, even bitter accusations that in turn inflict severe damage upon their marital relationship (McCollum 1981). Adding to the emotional stress of care giving, many of these families face considerable economic difficulty. Children with disability often require medical treatments, supplies, and therapies, which are often very costly and frequently not covered by private insurance. This economic strain alone may lead to increases in divorce for families of children with disability. However, couples raising a child with a disability may be less likely to divorce or separate based on pragmatic considerations, particularly the fear that the would be caregiver’s ability to support the child alone would be insufficient, financially and emotionally. This paper investigates the effect of child disability on marital stability. Until recently, adequate data to investigate the relationship between child disability and its effect on the family was not available. Matched records from the 1993 National Health Interview Survey and the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth provide a unique opportunity to examine the effects of child disability on family structure. Data include the birth of 8,711 children with severe (n=53), moderate (n=526), and no (n=8,142) disability, measures of the disability status of older children, and the mothers?marital history. Our preliminary analysis suggests that there is a negative effect of a disabled child in the family on marital stability. We will use cox regression models will estimate the effect of the birth of a child with a disability on the risk of mother’s divorce in order to control for the effects of other covariates that might be influencing this relationship.