Premium
Social support of children of divorce: Direct and stress buffering effects
Author(s) -
Wolchik Sharlene A.,
Ruehlman Linda S.,
Braver Sanford L.,
Sandler Irwin N.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/bf00931174
Subject(s) - social support , psychology , health psychology , stress (linguistics) , family support , developmental psychology , intervention (counseling) , clinical psychology , public health , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy , nursing , physical therapy
This study examined the direct and stress-buffering effects of support from family adults, nonfamily adults, family children, and nonfamily children on the adjustment of 104 children of divorce. For children's reports of adjustment, significant stress-buffering (i.e., Stress x Support) interactions for support from family adults and support from nonfamily adults occurred. The lower the level of social support, the stronger the positive relation between stress and adjustment problems. In addition, at high levels of stress, children with high support from nonfamily and family adults reported fewer adjustment problems than did children with low support. However, at the lowest level of stress, children with high support from nonfamily adults were significantly more poorly adjusted than were children with low support. For parental reports of children's adjustment, support from family adults was marginally positively related to adjustment whereas support from nonfamily adults was inversely related to adjustment. Implications for intervention programs for children of divorce are discussed.