We recently had a paper accepted that looks at the genetic and rearing environmental influences on the intergenerational transmission of divorce (more on that later once it's out). I was telling a colleague about our findings, and he said, "Well, that's great, but 'So What?' How would these findings change what a therapist might do when working with a couple?
Here's what I had to say:
Here's what I had to say:
Knowing something empirically about "where" the intergenerational transmission of divorce comes from (i.e., genes or environments) can dispel popular misconceptions about why divorce runs in families, and identify more appropriate targets for clinicians working with distressed couples. At present, the bulk of evidence on why divorce runs in families points to the idea that growing up with divorced parents weakens your commitment to and the interpersonal skills needed for marriage. So, if a distressed couple shows up in a therapist's office and finds (as part of learning about the partners' family histories) that one partner comes from a divorced family, then the therapist may make boosting commitment or strengthening interpersonal skills a focus of their clinical efforts.
However, these previous studies haven't adequately controlled for or examined something else in addition to the environment that divorcing parents transmit to their children: genes. And our study is, at present, the largest to do this. And what we find is strong, consistent evidence that genetic factors account for the intergenerational transmission of divorce. For this reason, focusing on increasing commitment or strengthening interpersonal skills may not be a particularly good use of time for a therapist working with a distressed couple. (This is also likely to be true in view of other research that skills-based preventive interventions for marriage can actually make people feel worse about their relationships because it essentially points out the many ways that we and our partners are deficient!).
So, what might a clinician do with this information? Our findings suggest that it may be useful to target some of the more basic personality traits that other research has suggested are genetically linked to divorce, such as high levels of negative emotionality (neuroticism) and low levels of constraint (conscientiousness), to mitigate their negative impact on close relationships. For example, other research shows that people who are highly neurotic tend to perceive their partners as behaving more negatively than they objectively are (as rated by independent observers). So, addressing these underlying, personality-driven cognitive distortions through cognitive-behavioral approaches may be a better strategy than trying to foster commitment.
However, these previous studies haven't adequately controlled for or examined something else in addition to the environment that divorcing parents transmit to their children: genes. And our study is, at present, the largest to do this. And what we find is strong, consistent evidence that genetic factors account for the intergenerational transmission of divorce. For this reason, focusing on increasing commitment or strengthening interpersonal skills may not be a particularly good use of time for a therapist working with a distressed couple. (This is also likely to be true in view of other research that skills-based preventive interventions for marriage can actually make people feel worse about their relationships because it essentially points out the many ways that we and our partners are deficient!).
So, what might a clinician do with this information? Our findings suggest that it may be useful to target some of the more basic personality traits that other research has suggested are genetically linked to divorce, such as high levels of negative emotionality (neuroticism) and low levels of constraint (conscientiousness), to mitigate their negative impact on close relationships. For example, other research shows that people who are highly neurotic tend to perceive their partners as behaving more negatively than they objectively are (as rated by independent observers). So, addressing these underlying, personality-driven cognitive distortions through cognitive-behavioral approaches may be a better strategy than trying to foster commitment.
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