Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Resilience and rejection sensitivity mediate long-term outcomes of parental divorce

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry volume 25, pages 1267–1269 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Increasing divorce rates leave more and more children to deal with the separation of their parents. Recent research suggests that children of divorced parents more often experience psychological and physical symptoms than children of non-divorced parents. The processes that mediate the relationship between parental divorce and ill-health, however, are still elusive. This study investigated the mediating role of psychological factors such as resilience and rejection sensitivity on the long-term consequences of parental divorce in young adults. One hundred and ninety-nine participants (mean age 22.3 years) completed an online survey, including measures of mental health, childhood trauma, resilience, and rejection sensitivity. Participants with divorced parents (33 %) reported increased levels of psychological symptoms, childhood trauma, rejection sensitivity, and lower levels of resilience. The association between parental divorce and mental health was fully mediated by resilience, rejection sensitivity, and childhood trauma. The mediation model explained up to 44 % of the total variance in mental health symptoms. Resilience and rejection sensitivity are crucial factors for successful coping with the experience of parental separation. Prevention programs that help to boost children’s resilience might help to reduce the long-term effects of parental divorce on their attachment style (e.g., rejection sensitivity), thereby improving their mental health on the long run. Furthermore, the results call for parental awareness and counseling to target and reduce the observed increased level of childhood trauma. Limitations concern the cross-sectional and retrospective design of the study.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

References

  1. Amato PR, Keith B (1991) Parental divorce and the well-being of children: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 110:26–46

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Crowell JA, Treboux D, Brockmeyer S (2009) Parental divorce and adult children’s attachment representations and marital status. Attach Hum Dev 11:87–101

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Mikulincer M, Shaver PR (2012) An attachment perspective on psychopathology. World Psychiatry 11:11–15

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Downey G, Feldman SI (1996) Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships. J Pers Soc Psychol 70:1327–1343

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Ayduk O, Downey G, Kim M (2001) An expectancy-value model of personality diathesis for depression: rejection sensitivity and depression in women. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 27:868–877

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Staebler K, Helbing E, Rosenbach C, Renneberg B (2011) Rejection sensitivity and borderline personality disorder. Clin Psychol Psychot 18:275–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Singh-Taylor A, Korosi A, Molet J, Gunn BG, Baram TZ (2015) Synaptic rewiring of stress-sensitive neurons by early-life experience: a mechanism for resilience? Neurobiol stress 1:109–115

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Schulze J, Gutz L, Renneberg B (2012) Ein effizienterer weg um zurückweisungsempfindlichkeit zu erfassen—entwicklung einer kurzversion des rejection sensitivity questionnaires (RSQ). In Vögele C (ed) Abstractband des 30. Symposium klinische psychologie und psychotherapie der DGPs fachgruppe klinische psychologie und psychotherapie [book of abstracts of the 30th symposium for clinical psychology and psychotherapy of the DGPs chapter clinical psychology and psychotherapy], University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg

  9. Leppert K, Koch B, Brähler E, Strauss B (2008) Die Resilienzskala (RS)—Uberprüfung der langform RS-25 und einer kurzform RS-13. Klin Diagn Eval 2:226–243

    Google Scholar 

  10. Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2004) SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behav Res Meth Ins Comput 36:717–731

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit INSIDE, Institute for Health and Behavior, University of Luxembourg, Campus Belval-Maison des Sciences Humaines 11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Violetta K. Schaan & Claus Vögele

Authors
  1. Violetta K. Schaan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Claus Vögele
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Violetta K. Schaan.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schaan, V.K., Vögele, C. Resilience and rejection sensitivity mediate long-term outcomes of parental divorce. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 25, 1267–1269 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0893-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0893-7

Keywords

search

Navigation