The impact of new relationships after divorce on the intergenerational relations between parents and their grown children

What form do the social relations between grown children and their parents take if the latter enter into a new relationship after divorce? If they do not? These questions were researched in the framework of the exploratory study "Intergenerational Relationships After Divorce", based on 54 comprehensive interviews with middle-aged divorced parents and their children. Two typical patterns could be identified:Pattern 1: "It is better if no third person takes part". Characteristic of this pattern is an exclusively dyadic relational structure. Desires and expectations are not differentiated but concentrated either on the children or - in the given case - on the new partner. This undifferentiated structure leads to poor relations between parents and the children or even to an estrangement.Pattern 2: "Children are no substitute for a relationship". Characteristic of this pattern is that different desires and expectations are not concentrated on individual persons but differentiated with regard to children and - in the given case - to new partners and other persons. Existing relationships do not have to function as substitutes. This differentiated structure goes together with rather strong intergenerational relations and has positive effects on them