Effects of parental divorce on children

Article Abstract:

Although the rate of divorce has stabilized in Britain, concern about effects of divorce on children remains high. Practical responses such as conciliation services are increasingly available. Beneficial influences on children's adjustment to divorce include maintenance of good relationships between children and both parents, and possibly joint custody arrangements. Breaks or continuing changes in relationships with parents are associated with low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, acting out, and poor peer relationships. If conflict between parents continues after divorce, children also do more poorly, probably because of effects on parent-child relationships. Reduced physical and psychological health in parents may also affect the children's adjustment. Households of divorced families with children frequently suffer very sharp fall-offs in income, and this has a very significant effect on children's development. Although remarriage tends to alleviate this problem, behavioral problems may develop. Larger studies have suggested that long-term negative effects on behavior, psychological well-being, and academic performance of children follow a divorce. These effects appear larger than demographic variables such as a mother's education but smaller than effects of gender on academic performance and other aspects. Children under five years of age are unable to fully understand divorce and may thus have a particularly difficult adjustment. Some children's problems previously attributed to divorce may have been present before separation, possibly due to marital conflict, effects of conflict on parent-child relationships, and a likelihood of higher divorce rates among adults with poor psychological health. Analyses of the outcome of children born during one week in 1946 suggest that divorce may influence children's adulthood, leading to less education, reduced earnings, and a higher incidence of earlier marriage and divorce. It is hoped that the disruption in children's lives caused by divorce may be diminished by services that increase parental settlement of conflict and reduce divorce-related poverty. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Analysis, Children of divorced parents, editorial

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Winnicott: an introduction

Article Abstract:

Donald Winnicott was a pediatrician who became a psychoanalyst. His conception of human development stressed the need for the continuity of care in infancy with 'good-enough mothering,' since only a 'good enough holding environment' could prevent an infant from becoming overwhelmed or could sustain an ability for 'going on being.' He thought of mental illness as an inhibition of spontaneity and believed psychopathology originated from breaks or gaps in the continuity of care in early childhood and represented a regression to the point at which the environment failed the child. Traumatic gaps, to Winnicott, were early intrusions or deprivations caused by unempathic parenting. Unlike Darwin, who stressed the need for an organism to comply with environmental demands in order to increase chances of survival, Winnicott felt that human development often depends on a struggle against compliance. For example, a mother who was unable to adapt to her child's needs would foster compliance. To manage her demands, her child would have to construct a 'false self.' Winnicott saw defiance versus compliance as a crucial issue because of the infant's dependence on the mother for survival. While Freud saw instinctual gratification and tension relief as the primary forces driving early infancy, Winnicott believed that infants begin life as social beings seeking relatedness. He believed psychoanalytic treatment should provide an environment analogous to good early maternal care and that cure entails a release from compliance and the development of spontaneity. He also felt that mental integrity is dependent upon the mutuality of relationships, including the one between analyst and patient. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

History, Influence, Child psychology, Personality development, Winnicott, Donald Woods

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Maternal employment

Article Abstract:

When mothers work full or part time outside of the home, the care a child receives is affected in many ways. From 1973 to 1985, the number of working mothers in the United Kingdom with children under five years of age increased from 25 to 30 percent and most of this was attributable to mothers working part time. One reason why mothers only work part time is the low number of available public day care facilities in the UK, but the main reason is that there are more part time jobs available. Questions have been raised about the harmful effects of part time work that separates a mother from her child in the morning or when the child goes to bed at night. Most studies indicate that if the child is over the age of one, no lasting detrimental effects are produced by the mother working full or part time. In contrast, however, there is increasing evidence that, even when good care is provided for children under the age of one, it may not be good enough to replace the care a mother would give. Researchers have reported that the development of language in children of working mothers is no different than that of children whose mothers do not work. These findings should not be misinterpreted by pediatricians as indicating that a child does not care if his/her mother works or not. Guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics emphasize the importance of a mother's feelings concerning the availability of good substitute care. It is concluded that if adequate substitute care can not be found, the mother should not work. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Social aspects, Child care, Employment, Family, Day care centers, Mothers, Working mothers

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