Children's Perceptions of Their Parents' Divorce

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore children's perceptions of their parents' divorce. One hundred and thirty two children, ranging in age from 5 to 19 years, responded to 13 questions of an open-ended interview; 92 of these children, ranging in age from 10 to 19 years, also responded to a 69-item structured questionnaire. For both measures, interest was directed on the extent to which age; sex; level of lacus of control, interpersonal knowledge, and intelligence; and length of parental separation were related to children's responses. The general tone of children's responses to both measures was positive yet realistic; children did not, in short, view their parent's divorce as an overly distressing experience. This finding supports the validity of the two measures. Moreover, the nature of children's responses was rather consistently related to age and level of both locus of control and interpersonal knowledge in the openended interview, and to age and level of locus of control in the more structured questionnaire. The extent to which children both perceive themselves as having a major cause in their life experiences and understand the dynamics of interpersonal relations, then, significantly influences their perceptions of their parents' divorce.Recently, several authors have attempted to integrate our present knowledge of how children are affected by the loss of one of their parents (Anthony, 1974;Biller, 1976; ~e r z o~ &Budia, 1973; Lamb, 1 g 7 ; ~a g r a b , 1977; Rohrlich, 1977; Shinn, 1978;Sorosky, 1977; Luepnitz, Note 1; Hetherington, Cox, & Cox, Note 2). For the most part, the studies reviewed have dealt with the effects of father absence and point to deficits in children's functioning in the following areas: sex role identity, sextyped behaviors (such as dependency and aggression), interpersonal relationships, and intellectual functioning; in addition, children from fatherless families are thought to be overrepresented in the number of children affected by both psychopathology alid juvenile delinquency.Lawrence A Kurdek and Albert E. Siesky, Jr. are affiliated with the Psychology Department, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435. Tbe authors would like to thank the children and parents who participated in this study, Jill Tschopp for her assistance in data analysis, and Margaret O'Connor and Anne Stericker for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

Children's Competence to Participate in Divorce Custody Decisionmaking

“…Yet, based on the most consistent finding that has emerged frorn studies of children of divorced families (Goldsteip, Freud, & Solnit, 1979;Kurdek & Siesky, 1980;Rosen, 1977;Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980), it was predicted that children of all ages would emphayize the importance of continued relationships with both parents following divorce.…”

Domestic Violence and Parental Divorce as Predictors of Best Friendship Qualities Among College Students

“…Many of these resilient children assumed responsibility for the care of others (e.g., younger, physically ill, lonely, alcoholic, or depressed family members). Similarly, Kurdek and Siesky (1980) found that nearly 80% of the 132 5-to 19-year-old children they sampled (4 years postdivorce) believed they had assumed increased responsibilities after the divorce and learned to depend on themselves more. In fact their parents had the same opinion, with roughly 75% of the 74 parents sampled rating their children as more mature and independent than they were before the divorce.…”

Gender and Age Differences in Child Adjustment to Parental Separation

“…However, Kurdek and Siesky (1980) report that due to their internal locus of control and higher degree of interpersonal knowledge, older children are more likely to develop a healthier response to parental divorce. Still others claim that whilc children of all ages experience negative effects of divorce, younger children display more acting-out behavior, older children experience more depression (Hodges & Bloom, 1984).…”