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Children's Reactions to Parental Separation and Divorce: The Views of Children and Custodial Mothers
Author(s) -
Amato Paul R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1987.tb00847.x
Subject(s) - feeling , psychology , distress , developmental psychology , project commissioning , diversity (politics) , publishing , clinical psychology , social psychology , sociology , political science , law , anthropology
Children in two age groups, middle childhood and adolescence, were asked to describe how they felt when their parents separated. Although most children reported negative feelings, others reported neutral or positive feelings. Mothers' reports of their children's reactions also revealed a good deal of diversity. When asked to describe how they felt at the time of the interview, most children claimed to have accepted the situation. However, a small group of children, mainly of primary school age, reported continuing distress.