Divorce, Separation, and Loss

Abstract

This chapter focuses on some of the most difficult events in a child's life—divorce, separation, or loss of parents. It reviews the adjustment disorder categories appropriate for children with difficulty adapting to major events. General trends demonstrate that divorce has more deleterious effects on younger children, with some researchers positing that parental divorce prior to age 6 poses a particular risk of subsequent emotional and behavioral difficulties. Parental divorce affects many aspects of a child's life, including physical proximity and degree of closeness to caregivers, and can substantially affect parents’ socioeconomic standing, emotional states, and behavior. Strengths of the parent–child relationship prior to a divorce are thought to augment a child's coping resources and, after a divorce, parental variables can buffer stress, leading to fewer emotional and behavioral problems. Circumstances of parental loss can have substantial implications for adjustment difficulties a child is likely to experience.

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