Gender was also shown to be importa

Gender was also shown to be important in the association between adolescent outcomes and family type.
The parental divorce itself appeared
to be more harmful for boys while the formation of a stepfamily
was more strongly associated with problematic behaviour
among girls. Remarriage and thus re-establishing a two-parent family situation
appeared to reduce substance use for boys but had the
opposite effect for girls. Moreover,
gender differences have been reported in the timing of the
problematic behaviour relative to the divorce. Boys were
more inclined to use substances in the period shortly after
the divorce, while girls started using substances before the
parental divorce took place.
This was explained by the fact that boys blocked out
parental conflicts prior to divorce and crashed afterwards,
while girls became more anxious when the first parental
problems arose. Finally, gender differences were reported
across types of externalising behaviour. Hay (2003) argued
that girls more often experienced feelings of guilt, which
were negatively related to delinquency, but positively
related to self-destructive behaviours such as alcohol and
drug abuse. Boys on the other hand would be more likely to
react on stressful evens with aggressive behaviours, such as
delinquency.