The psychological issues of parental separation in children

Abstract

Parental separation is a risky traumatic experience for the child regardless of his age. To overcome this ordeal, the child sets up functional or adaptive mechanisms, enabling him to continue his development; on the contrary, giving rise to emotional symptoms, behavioral disorders and / or school sufferance. The expression of this suffering will depend on several factors (the age of the child, his level of development, personality and that of his parents, family background, nature of parental disagreement, the place of children in the conflict, the quality of the relationship between the parents and that of the child-parent relationships after separation). Today’s readings on parental separation and its psychological effects multiply and intersect to provide a more comprehensive look at this worrying phenomenon.