A French study of Children's Self-Esteem after Parental Separation

The Psychological Consequences of Children of Parental Divorce

“…As noted previously, children's attitudes toward their academics and their motivation are correlated with their sense of home stability. Poussin and Martin-Lebrun (2002) confirmed that children with parents who have separated have overall worse self-esteem and self-image compared to children with unified parents, yet it improves once parental conflict diminishes, using a sample of 3,098 French children aged 11 to 13 who were administered a questionnaire. Further reasons for a decrease in self-esteem can arise from the fact that "children [feel] invisible due to parents' preoccupation with the conflictual situation and the other parent in general' (Dallos et al, 2016, as cited in van Dijk et al, 2022.…”

“…Regarding damaged relationships with the parents, children were concluded to be more reliant on parents, hostile, and difficult while affiliations weakened as they felt guilty participating in meaningful activities with either parent in fear of breaking loyalties to the other (Hetherington et al, 1977, as cited in Peterson & Zill, 1986Steinman, 1981, as cited in Donnelly & Finkelhor, 1992. But as both relationships tend to suffer, the noncustodial parent, or typically the father, tends to suffer exponentially after a parental divorce (Poussin & Martin-Lebrun, 2002). Secondly, we can see the magnitudes of parental divorce on children as their academic performance had been reported to drop.…”

“…On the contrary, children of shared custody were more likely to pit each parent against each other as they feel their parents are more disposable with frequent contact. However, as Poussin and Martin-Lebrun (2002) explain, only 20% of children visiting the noncustodial parent found the interaction to be happy highlighting how noncustodial parental relationships suffer greatly with the occurrence of divorce and limited contact. In either case, it appears there are negative consequences for parentchild relationships of divorce, only varying in how that disturbance is manifested.…”

“…Noncustodial parents -typically the father-after divorce were found to restrict time with their children, and often feel awkward and unnatural if they do visit their child; which eventually led being less involved with their children overtime (Stewart et al, 1986;Furstenberg et al, 1984;Seltzner, 1991, as cited in Donnelly andFinkelhor, 1992). In fact, Poussin and Martin-Lebrun (2002) state that 23% of children involved in their study had never met with his or her father after the parental divorce. As the relationship with a child's noncustodial parent is often harmed after divorce, the custodial parent often feels overwhelmed with single parenting demands such as emotional, financial, and time demands, which also harms the parent-child relationship as they have limited free time to spend it with the child (Folberg, 1984, as cited in Donnelly andFinkelhor, 1992).…”

The effects of divorce on Saudi girls’ interpersonal adjustment

“…Although most of the focus in these studies is on the various factors influencing the effects of divorce on children at the pre- and post-divorce stages, few studies have focused on the cultural and environmental factors related to divorce and its adjustment (Chaitali, 2012; Poussin and Martin-Lebrun, 2002; Van Nijnatten and Jongen, 2011). In Arab societies divorce is considered an acceptable solution to family conflict and a lack of harmony within the family.…”