to permanent separation cannot be determined. While such differences are likely to be small when the event occurs during early childhood (an age when respondents could not understand the legal difference), parental divorce and separation may need to be addressed separately in future studies. Fourth, measures for parental histories of alcohol and other problems combined maternal and paternal problems. Exploring potential differential influences of maternal vs. paternal problems, a complex issue with its own literature, is currently underway, and will be reported separately. Finally, respondents were not asked the reasons that their parents divorced or were permanently separated. While this information may have been informative in some cases, it may not have been possible to ascertain it accurately from all respondents.
