A team of Italian researchers studied how divorce reshapes family ties, focusing on the way the end of a marriage affects the bond between fathers and their children. They found that after separation, men often struggle more to stay connected with their kids. The findings address a key area in family dynamics and intergenerational relationships.
To build a broad picture, the researchers drew on a large national statistics report about families and life cycles. This data source provides a wide view of demographic patterns across households and is well suited for studying how relationships shift when marriages end.
The dataset included demographic and family information from more than 24,000 households, giving researchers enough power to observe patterns in how families keep in touch across generations. The scale allowed a nuanced look at different modes of contact, from in-person visits to phone calls and online messages.
The analysis focused on adult children aged 30 to 55 who no longer lived with their parents. This age range captures the period when many young adults are becoming independent, while avoiding older generations where parental separation is less common.
From the survey, researchers identified a final sample of 6,770 adult children, comprising 11,041 parent–child pairs. This pairing enabled robust comparisons of contact frequency and style across parent and child genders.
Gender differences in contact after separation were clear. In separated families, fathers were much less likely than mothers to maintain frequent contact with their children. This pattern persisted across communication modes, but the gap was most pronounced in face-to-face and telephone interactions.
The gap was particularly evident in father–daughter relationships. Separated fathers were about 29% less likely than mothers to have frequent face-to-face contact with their daughters and about 35% less likely to have any regular in-person contact. In contrast, sons showed a smaller difference between how they stayed in touch with their mothers and their fathers.
Fathers who rarely met their children face-to-face were also less likely to stay connected online. The result aligns with the accumulation hypothesis, which suggests that less physical contact can make other forms of interaction more challenging. On the flip side, fathers who did meet their children in person tended to maintain communication through phone calls and digital channels more often.
The age of the child at the time of parental divorce appeared to be important, especially for girls. The gender gap in contact tended to be larger when girls were younger at the time of divorce (ages 0–7) and diminished when divorces occurred during adolescence (ages 8–17). This pattern implies that older children may have had more opportunity to build stable relationships with both parents before separation, reducing the impact of post-separation contact.
Earlier research has suggested that women may cope with breakups differently than men, a finding echoed by this study as it highlights the varied experiences of mothers and fathers after divorce. The results invite policymakers, educators, and family-support services in North America to consider targeted strategies that help fathers stay connected with their children across the life course.