The effects of divorce on children's adjustment. Review and implications.
Divorce events, not single-parent status, shape child adjustment, so BCBAs should assess and treat the conflict process.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Reiter (1991) looked at every major paper on divorce and kids. The author grouped studies into two buckets. Bucket one: things that happen during divorce, like fighting or moving. Bucket two: fixed facts, like living with one parent.
The review asked which bucket better predicts how kids turn out.
What they found
Process beat structure. Events such as high conflict, new partners, or money stress predicted child behavior better than the single-parent label itself.
In plain words: the drama matters more than the address.
How this fits with other research
Namkung et al. (2015) and Mtutu et al. (2025) extend the idea to disability families. Ha found extra kids do not raise divorce risk when a child has developmental delays. Samu saw lower divorce rates among parents of kids with spina bifida in Sweden.
Whaling et al. (2025) and Tyler et al. (2021) zoom in on autism. They show interparental conflict stays high for many fathers and hurts kids with ASD more. These papers agree with Reiter (1991): conflict process, not marital status, drives child outcomes.
Mount et al. (2011) add that good marriage quality cuts depression in moms of kids with ASD. Again, process over structure.
Why it matters
When you see behavior spikes after a divorce, skip the label check. Ask what the child hears, sees, and feels. Map conflict events, schedule changes, and money stress. Add coparenting support or teach calm disagreement skills. Target the process and you target the real predictor of adjustment.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Divorce has become one of the most frequent environmental stressors experienced by children. This article reviews present conceptualizations of children's adaptation to divorce. Most notably, researchers have moved away from the view that family structural variables, such as single-parent status, necessitate the development of psychopathology in children. In recent years, investigators have shifted their attention to events that accompany marital dissolution, rather than the event of divorce per se. Such process variables have been identified as more salient correlates of children's adjustment. Additionally, the article examines children's short- and long-term adjustment to divorce, specific problem areas that are common among children from divorced families, and directions for future investigations.
Behavior modification, 1991 · doi:10.1177/01454455910154002