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The impact of divorce on the family

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Abstract

Often, divorce does not end disturbed marital relationships. Of 105 families that experienced divorce, 52 percent had hostile postdivorce interactions requiring at least 1 court intervention, and 31 percent required 2 to 10 court interventions in a two-year follow-up period. The legal reasons for the court actions centered around money and children. Commonly observed family dynamic patterns included (a) hostile interaction between divorced spouses over the parenting roles; (b) continued conflict between divorced spouses, but not involving the children or extended family; (c) perpetuation by the children of interaction between their divorced parents; (d) special alliances between one parent and child against the other parent; and (e) continued interaction of divorced partners, perpetuated by the extended family.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    David W. Cline M.D. (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)

  2. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

    Jack C. Westman M.D. (Professor of Psychiatry)

Authors
  1. David W. Cline M.D.
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  2. Jack C. Westman M.D.
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Additional information

The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of Mrs. Burl Sutton, A.C.S.W., Dane County Family Court Counseling Service, Madison, Wisconsin.

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Cline, D.W., Westman, J.C. The impact of divorce on the family. Child Psych Hum Dev 2, 78–83 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01434640

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