7.3. Implications for further study

This thesis deals with problematic outcomes of offspring of single-parent families. The majority of the young adults with single-parent family background, however, did well during the follow-up. In the present data it was not possible to study factors which promote well-being of offspring of single-parent families, although it would be of prime interest for preventive mental health work. Those cohort members who managed to adjust well in spite of childhood adversities could give us valuable information on the nature of coping mechanisms and buffering factors. Further research on adult offspring of single-parent families, in particular longitudinal studies, would be of great value in the attempt to understand this phenomenon.

Further detailed studies are also needed concerning the social, psychological and biological risk-increasing factors which are specific for a single-parent family and which may explain the elevated mortality and criminality rates of the offspring. In the future, it would be interesting to study whether these increased mortality and criminality risks are associated with the timing of the parental separation. Also, it would be interesting to study the putative parental psychiatric morbidity in order to explain the association between violence and childhood family structure. The possible inheritance of antisocial traits of cohort members should be investigated using methods of epidemiological genetics.