Children of divorce

Much attention has been devoted to examining whether divorce negatively impacts children's psychological adjustment, or whether divorce is now so prevalent that it can be considered a normative transitional event (Kaslow, 1981). Divorce brings many structural and functional changes. These include the logistic and emotional complications of a nonresidential parent, financial disequilibrium, and two systems with differing rules and expectations. Additionally, there are new subsystem components, such as parental figures, step- and half-siblings, and extended families with a potentially motley cast of new characters and different environments impacting the system. What constitutes "family" for children of divorce is often quite different from what is traditionally viewed as the nuclear family. This chapter discusses divorce effects on childhood adjustment; family systems-based treatment of divorce; adaptive information processing model applied to divorce issues; and the therapy process--integrative family therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Two case examples are presented, followed by a concluding discussion.

Book Section

English

Frances "Frankie" Klaff

Klaff, F. (2007). Children of divorce. In F. Shapiro, F. W. Kaslow, & L. Maxfield (Eds.), Handbook of EMDR and family therapy processes (pp. 284-305). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc