Conflict, loss, change and parent-child relationships : predicting children's adjustment during divorce

Abstract

Children's emotional adjustment and behavior problems during divorce were predicted from both pre-separation (child attributes, marital conflict and parent-child closeness) and post-separation factors (loss of parent, changes, and parent-child relationship), utilizing path analysis. Children had poorer emotional adjustment and more behavior problems if they were older, had prior psychological problems, had parents with more marital conflict, and had more difficult relationships with their mothers. The effect of marital conflict was more indirect, though the mother-child relationship. The father-child relation ship appeared as a weak predictor only in the behavior problems model. Emotional adjustment was predicted most strongly by post-separation family relationships, while behavior problems were more strongly related to pre-separation factors. The findings suggest that interventions for children during the divorcing period should focus on empathic, warm