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Effects Of Divorce On Children Under Five On Relationship With Parents

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What Are The Effects Of Divorce On Children Under Five?

I have already written more generally about the effect of divorce on children elsewhere on this site (click here to read one of my related articles). However, this article considers the effect on children who are particularly young (under the age of five years) with specific reference on how it affects the security of their relationships with their parents once they themselves become adults.

A study conducted by Fraley and Heffernan (2013) examined the injurious psychological and emotional effects of parental divorce on very young children in comparison with those sustained by children who were older when their parents divorced.

In essence, it was found that if parents divorce when the child was very young (defined as being 0 to 3-5 years of age) then, once the child becomes an adult, s/he is likely to have a more difficult (specifically, more insecure and less trusting) with his/her parents than those adult individuals whose parents divorced when they were older.
Adverse Effect On Relationship With Father Compared To Adverse Effect On Relationship With Father :
The study also found that parental divorce tends to affect the individual’s relationship with his/her father more negatively than his/her relationship with his/her mother (again, in terms of feelings of trust and security).
It was hypothesized that this finding may be accounted for by the fact that the mother, in most cases, retains custody of the child which tends to mean that there is less damage done to the level of security a child feels with his/her mother compared to that which s/he feels with his/her mother.
Indeed, a further study by the same pair of researchers seemed to bear this hypothesis out as it was found that :
  • if the mother was awarded custody of the child, the child was more likely to have a damaged relationship (in terms of feelings of security) with his/her father
  • however, if the father was awarded custody, the child’s relationship with the father (in terms of security) was relatively less damaged.

Effect On Adult, Romantic Relationships :

The study also found (though the evidence here was rather more tenuous in statistical terms) that those individuals whose parents divorced during his/her childhood were more likely (though certainly not guaranteed) to be adversely affected by anxiety in connection with adult, romantic relationships in later life.

David Hosier BSc Hons; MSc; PGDE(FAHE).

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