HSG research shows: Children of divorce become more successful entrepreneurs

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For many children, this is the biggest nightmare: mom and dad going their separate ways. HSG researchers have now concluded that parental divorce can also have positive effects on children. At least if the kids start a company later.

“Our results show that children whose parents experience divorce develop, on average, an increased belief that they can successfully overcome difficult situations and challenges on their own,” said HSG professor Isabella Hatak, who participated in the study. “Parental divorce appears to foster children’s independence and maturity, which will benefit them later in their entrepreneurial careers with increased self-efficacy.”

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But be careful, dear children of divorce: “The common view that early life adversity is a source of entrepreneurial success appears to hold only if children have little to lose from their parents’ divorce,” the researchers wrote in the Study. The negative effects are more severe for children divorced from privileged families.

Children of wealthy families lose some of their wealth when their parents divorce. After a divorce, children or their parents have less money to spare for “educational activities” such as private lessons or hobbies. If the custodial parent has to increase their workload as a result of the divorce, the children will also have to do homework, etc. They will receive less parental support on issues.

“Parental divorce can cause these children to lose their privileges and therefore put them in the limited situation that less privileged children often experience,” says Mateja Andric from the Swiss Institute of SMEs and Entrepreneurship (HSG).

Government programs aimed at encouraging entrepreneurs should therefore support people from disadvantaged family backgrounds, regardless of whether the disadvantages resulted from parental divorce or are already present, according to researchers at HSG communications.

For affected parents, HSG researchers recommend proactively investing in the child’s education and not overprotecting them. “This allows the child to use the difficult time after the divorce as an opportunity to develop greater independence and self-confidence, which increases their chances of succeeding in entrepreneurship later,” said Mateja Andric.

For the study, HSG researchers evaluated the careers of 1,735 self-employed people in the United States. The research was published in the “Journal of Business Venturing”.

Source :Blick