ABSTRACT
It is not possible to give accurate emotional weight to the factors which determine the effects of parental separation/divorce on a child. The relatively few longitudinal studies (Hodges & Bloom, 1984; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980) which have attempted to do so have focused on the child's age at the time of the separation/divorce. However, regardless of the child's age at that time, the child will spend a significant part of his or her life in a deteriorating pre-separation/divorce situation, experiencing emotionally draining legal proceedings and major changes in his family life. He or she will live with parents with varying abilities to weather the storm, provide adequate parenting and communication with an ex-spouse, and regain equilibrium in personal and family life.
