Child Health and Parental Relationships

Using longitudinal national-level representative data from Denmark, this study considers the link between child disability or chronic illness and parental relationship termination as measured by the point in time at which one parent, following the breakup of the relationship, no longer resides in the household. By means of event-history techniques, I examine whether a Danish family's experience of having a child diagnosed with a disability or chronic illness affects the chances of parental relationship termination. My findings suggest that families with a child with disabilities or chronic illness do have a higher risk of parental relationship termination, when compared to families where no diagnosis of child disability or chronic illness is reported.