BACKGROUND
The consequences of declining parent–child ties after divorce have primarily been studied for children’s well-being and not for parents’ well-being. Some parents lose contact with their children after divorce, and one would expect that such a decline in contact hampers their emotional well-being, in particular when parents are older and children are adults.

OBJECTIVE
This study aims to describe the association between how much contact divorced fathers and mothers have with their children and parents’ well-being in old age.

METHODS
This report uses a survey with a register-based oversample of divorced parents and children from the Netherlands in 2017 (N = 4,641). Parents (mean age 62) reported about life satisfaction, health, and loneliness and on contact with two adult children (mean age 34).

RESULTS
A sizeable minority of older divorced parents had little or no contact with their children, although this was more common among fathers than mothers. Parents who had little or no contact with their adult children had substantially lower levels of well-being than parents who had regular contact with their adult children. A negative association was present for mothers and fathers. Divorced parents with a (new) partner were less strongly affected by the lack of contact with children, pointing to the compensating role of partners.

CONCLUSIONS
Reduced contact with adult children after divorce is strongly associated with parents’ well-being. In a more general sense, the findings point to a vulnerable segment of the divorced population that is currently aging.



中文翻译：

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弱化的亲子关系和年长离异父母的幸福感（作者：Matthijs Kalmijn）

背景
离婚后亲子关系下降的后果主要是为了孩子的幸福而不是父母的幸福。一些父母在离婚后与孩子失去联系，人们会认为这种联系的减少会影响他们的情感健康，尤其是当父母年龄较大且孩子已成年时。

目的
本研究旨在描述离异父母与子女的接触程度与父母晚年幸福感之间的关系。

方法
本报告使用了一项调查，该调查对 2017 年来自荷兰的离婚父母和子女进行了基于登记册的过度抽样调查（N = 4,641）。父母（平均年龄 62 岁）报告了生活满意度、健康状况、孤独感以及与两名成年子女（平均年龄 34 岁）的接触情况。

结果
相当一部分年长的离异父母很少或根本没有与他们的孩子接触，尽管这在父亲中比在母亲中更为普遍。与成年子女接触很少或根本没有接触的父母的幸福感明显低于与成年子女经常接触的父母。母亲和父亲存在负相关。有（新）伴侣的离婚父母受与孩子缺乏接触的影响较小，这表明伴侣的补偿作用。

结论
离婚后减少与成年子女的接触与父母的幸福感密切相关。从更普遍的意义上讲，调查结果指向离婚人口中目前正在老龄化的弱势群体。