Het verschil in de kwaliteit van de ouder-kindrelatie tussen intacte en gescheiden gezinnen en de rol van ouderlijke conflicten.

Abstract

Parental divorce is a continuing problem in the modern Western world, of which the consequences are still not sufficiently explored. Several studies have shown that the parent-child relationship plays an important role in the adjustment of children from divorced families. As part of a cross-sectional research design, differences between the quality of parent-child relationships between intact and divorced families were examined. The potential correlation between parental conflicts and the parent-child relationship was also measured. The sample consisted of 518 first, second, and third grade students from different high schools throughout the Netherlands. This group of students existed of 392 students from intact families and 126 students from divorced families. Surveys were taken and quantitatively analysed through ANOVA, ANCOVA, and independent sample t-test. Results showed that the average quality of the mother-child relationship as well of the father-child relationship is lower in divorced families compared to intact families. A negative correlation between parental conflicts and the quality of both mother-child and father-child relationship was found. However, the measured differences in the quality of the parent-child relationship between intact and divorced families, is no longer significant when corrected for parental conflicts. This emphasizes the probability that parental conflicts are responsible for a reduction in the quality of the parent-child relationship after a parental divorce. Further research is necessary to investigate the influence of other variables like gender, internalizing and externalizing problems, contact frequency, and family structures.