Culture, parental conflict, parental marital status, and the subjective well-being of young adults

We examined the association between parental marital status, marital conflict, and culture (individualism-collectivism, divorce rate), and the subjective, rr ell-being of young adults. Study I assessed 2,625,men and 4,118 women from 39 countries on, 6 continents. Subjective well-being Ic?ns negatively associated with marital conflict among offspring of never-divorced and remarried parents. The association of marital status and the subjective well-being of offspring differed across individualism-collectivism and divorce rate. Collectivism lessens the impact of divorce after a high-conflict marriage and the impact of marital conflict when a parent remarries. Study 2 examined the association of parental marital status and conflict among 76 adopted and 87 nonadopted young adults. The negative association of divorce and of marital conflict with? the life satisfaction of the offspring did not differ by adoption. The selection hypothesis was not,supported.