New research from the University of Melbourne has found that parents with teenage daughters are slightly more likely to divorce than parents with teenage sons.
The study analysed data from the Netherlands, where comprehensive registry information was available.
Researchers found that the risk of divorce was equal for parents of boys and girls up until the children reached the age of 12. However, between the ages of 13 and 18, divorce occurred more frequently amongst parents of girls. On average, parents with teenage daughters were 5% more likely to divorce than those with teenage sons.
The increased risk for parents with daughters peaked when the daughter was 15, with parents being 10% more likely to divorce than parents of 15-year-old boys. This risk then declined in the following years and disappeared entirely once the daughter turned 19.
The researchers suggested that this increased divorce risk may be linked to tensions that can develop between parents and daughters during the teenage years, potentially due to differing attitudes towards gender roles. Disagreements about parenting approaches were more common among parents of teenage daughters, who also reported lower satisfaction with family relationships and a more positive view of divorce.
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