Lecture 16 - Divorce Flashcards
What percent of families in Canada are expected to experience divorce?
about 40% of families in Canada are expected to experience divorce
What percent of divorcing couples have dependent children? and what percent of North American children will experience their parents’ divorce by age 18?
- 48% of divorcing couples have dependent children
- about 33% of North American children will experience their parents’ divorce by age 18
Which demographic groups have a higher likelihood to experience divorce?
- teenage marriage
- differences between partners in social/economic/religious backgrounds
What are 4 factors that affect how children and parents will adjust to divorce?
- children’s individual psychological competencies for dealing with stress
- the nature of the child’s family setting and the support system available to the child
- the community, post divorce environment and the available support system for the child’s family, ex. immigrants may lack a support system if all their relatives are abroad
- cultural values, beliefs and attitudes surrounding family life, ex. very religious community may have a coloured view on divorce and may not be as supportive to the parent and child
How does a child’s temperament affect their ability to adapt to life post divorce?
- temperamentally difficult kids are less able to adapt to change, more likely to have emotional difficulties post-divorce
- children with a history of maladjustment prior to divorce most likely to respond with long lasting disturbance following divorce
Describe the 3 most common skills.that a child of divorce may fail to develop.
- the capacity to modulate and manage aggressive impulses
- the ability to achieve emotional separation from primary caretakers
- the development of a stable gender identity
3 prominent symptoms in divorced children
- aggressive and antisocial problems (externalizing)
- sadness, depression, and self esteem problems (internalizing)
- difficulty establishing and maintaining good heterosexual relationships
How can going through a divorce lead to problems modulating aggression in a child?
- by stimulating the levels of aggressive impulse
2. interfering with the child’s capacity to manage aggressive impulses
Why can it be negative for young children of divorce to take on the man or mother of the house role in their single parent home? ex. child becoming a surrogate parent
- these children give up, to some degree, appropriate emotional investment in establishing peer relationships
- in favour of being centrally and powerfully involved with the mother specifically, or the family system more broadly
What are 3 common patterns that emerge in adolescents of divorce?
- teenager regressively retreats from adolescence
- Pseudomaturity; teen appears much older and more mature than his/her years, expressed in dress, appearance, general conduct, appears especially responsible, stable
- rebellious teenager; increased delinquency and behavioural problems
What do regressive and pseudomature teens have in common?
- an avoidance of the primary tasks of adolescence and a failure to be involved centrally in their peer group
- they become socially isolated and emotionally overinvested in their families
What female specific effects can divorce have on a child’s gender identity?
- lower self esteem
- precocious sexual activity
- greater delinquent behaviour
- more difficulty establishing gratifying heterosexual relationships
What female specific effects can divorce have on a child’s gender identity?
- lower self esteem
- precocious sexual activity
- greater delinquent behaviour
- more difficulty establishing gratifying heterosexual relationships
What male specific effects can divorce have on a child’s gender identity?
- inhibition of assertiveness
- deficient impulse control
Who are the most distressed children of divorce?
- the most distressed children were those who became the focus of their parents’ conflict
- ex. custody battle
