| The present study attempts to explain the phenomenon of the intergenerational transmission of divorce, which is the tendency for adult children, and particularly women who experienced parental divorce, to be more likely to divorce themselves, by considering the role of the father-daughter relationship. Unfortunately, it has been found that this relationship is often negatively affected by parental divorce and can particularly be detrimental to adult daughters' romantic relationships. Specifically, the present study examined whether five factors that are considered to be important to marital satisfaction and stability- commitment to marriage, emotional intimacy, recreational intimacy, intellectual intimacy, and effective communication- predict the strength of the father-daughter relationship of adult married women with divorced parents.;Ninety women whose parents were divorced and were currently in first-time, heterosexual marriages participated in an online survey measuring the aforementioned variables. A secure website was created specifically for this study, and all data was collected via the Internet. A step-wise multiple regression was conducted to determine if the predictor variables (commitment level, emotional, recreational, and intellectual intimacy levels, and level of effective communication) predicted the dependent variable (strength of the father-daughter relationship). The major finding of this study was that the level of emotional intimacy in the marriages of women with divorced parents predicted the strength of their relationships with their fathers. However, the other independent variables in this study were not found to add anything to the predictability of the strength of this relationship. Additionally, Pearson correlations were performed to determine if there was an association between the daughters' reports of emotional intimacy in their current marriages and their reported strength of their relationships with their stepfather and another significant adult male in their life growing up. Neither of these correlations were found to be significant. Thus, other males in women's lives, including stepfathers, cannot replace the father-daughter relationship. This study suggests that the father-daughter relationship may be one possible buffer against the intergenerational transmission of divorce and has important implications regarding the work clinicians do to protect and strengthen this relationship when working with families who have experienced parental divorce. |
