Study Links Divorce to Number of Siblings

If you are an only child are you more likely to need a divorce lawyer or family mediator? A new study says that may be the case.

The research shows that the more siblings you have, the less likely you are to get a divorce. Each additional sibling a person has (up to about seven) reduces the likelihood of divorce by 2 percent.

However, the difference between having one sibling and being an only child was actually not that significant.

“We expected that if you had any siblings at all, that would give you the experience with personal relationships that would help you in marriage,” said Donna Bobbitt-Zeher, co-author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State’s Marion campus.

“But we found that the real story appears to be how family dynamics change incrementally with the addition of each sibling. More siblings means more experience dealing with others, and that seems to provide additional help in dealing with a marriage relationship as an adult.”

The study used data from the General Social Survey, which involved interviews with about 57,000 adults from across the United States at 28 points between 1972 and 2012.

If you have any questions about divorce, feel free to contact our divorce lawyers in Harrisburg and York.