In the family life cycle, divorce characterises itself as an actual transition which can be both a risk factor and an opportunity of growth for all the members of the separated family. The objective of this review is to show the current state of theoretical ideas and the main research regarding the long and short term consequences of marital separation on the psychosocial adjustment of children. The severity and duration of possible adjustment problems appear to be influenced by “adjustment variables” associated with the pre- and post-divorce family and social context: the most significant seem to be the mother’s psychological adjustment (as mothers generally obtain custody) and the degree of parental cooperation between the ex-spouses. The present paper, in examining the available literature, favours the family social psychology perspective, according to a relational point of view emphasizing the divorce as multidimensional psychosocial process, and the Developmental Psychopathology conceptual perspective: the chronic exposure to parental conflict and not the separation itself is recognised as a preeminent risk factor for the children’s developmental processes. Considering both conceptual perspectives, the focus is on resilience and on child’s abilities of adjustment, intended as the most common outcome of the transition: notwithstanding the increased risk for pathological outcomes, most children of divorced couples do not, in fact, show clinically relevant issues and the differences in the “average level” of adjustment, compared to children of non-divorced couples, are small. The paper also examines research regarding issues of growing relevance, such as PAS or Parental Alienation Syndrome, often fuelled by the legal controversies regarding children custody (Gardner, 1998; Gulotta, 1998) and the intergenerational transmission of divorce which, in young adult age, entails an increased risk of marital separation in the children of divorced couples.
F. Agostini, F. Monti, G. Tassotti (2011). Il minore nella transizione al divorzio. Sviluppi teorici e dati empirici sui processi di adattamento a breve e lungo termine. ETA' EVOLUTIVA, 99, 110-128.
Il minore nella transizione al divorzio. Sviluppi teorici e dati empirici sui processi di adattamento a breve e lungo termine
AGOSTINI, FRANCESCA;MONTI, FIORELLA;
2011
Abstract
In the family life cycle, divorce characterises itself as an actual transition which can be both a risk factor and an opportunity of growth for all the members of the separated family. The objective of this review is to show the current state of theoretical ideas and the main research regarding the long and short term consequences of marital separation on the psychosocial adjustment of children. The severity and duration of possible adjustment problems appear to be influenced by “adjustment variables” associated with the pre- and post-divorce family and social context: the most significant seem to be the mother’s psychological adjustment (as mothers generally obtain custody) and the degree of parental cooperation between the ex-spouses. The present paper, in examining the available literature, favours the family social psychology perspective, according to a relational point of view emphasizing the divorce as multidimensional psychosocial process, and the Developmental Psychopathology conceptual perspective: the chronic exposure to parental conflict and not the separation itself is recognised as a preeminent risk factor for the children’s developmental processes. Considering both conceptual perspectives, the focus is on resilience and on child’s abilities of adjustment, intended as the most common outcome of the transition: notwithstanding the increased risk for pathological outcomes, most children of divorced couples do not, in fact, show clinically relevant issues and the differences in the “average level” of adjustment, compared to children of non-divorced couples, are small. The paper also examines research regarding issues of growing relevance, such as PAS or Parental Alienation Syndrome, often fuelled by the legal controversies regarding children custody (Gardner, 1998; Gulotta, 1998) and the intergenerational transmission of divorce which, in young adult age, entails an increased risk of marital separation in the children of divorced couples.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
