Neil Kalter

CHILDREN OF DIVORCE IN AN OUTPATIENT PSYCHIATRIC POPULATION

In a review of the records of some 400 children referred for outpatient psychiatric evaluation, children of divorce appeared at nearly twice the rate of their occurrence in the general population. Age and sex of the child patient were found to relate substantially to parental status, and to be significantly associated with type of presenting symptom. It is suggested that earlier research into the relationship between symptomology and history of divorce may have been marred by failure to take into account age and sex factors.

Long-term effects of divorce on children: a developmental vulnerability model

Research and clinical work with children of divorce have focused primarily on parental separation as a traumatic event and its effects on children as a crisis situation. The present paper, based on clinical experience, considers potential long-term problems of these children in key developmental areas: handling anger and aggression, separation-individuation, and gender identity. Implications for prevention and service delivery are presented.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A CHILD'S AGE AT THE TIME OF PARENTAL DIVORCE

The literature on children of divorce presents three theories on the relationship between a childs age at divorce and subsequent adaptation. Outpatient evaluations of 144 children of divorce, ranging in age from seven to 17 years, were coded for nature of emotional-behavioral problems and overall degree of psychological adjustment. Divorce timing was unrelated to overall level of adjustment, but was associated significantly with different constellations of emotional-behavioral difficulties.

Clinical Expertise and the Assessment of Child Sexual Abuse

OBJECTIVE Mental health specialists (N = 48) were surveyed as to (1) their estimates of the likelihood that a 3-year-old child had been sexually molested (as alleged by her mother in the context of a child custody dispute) by her father, and (2) their recommendations, given their estimates, as to child visitation/custody. METHOD Specialists heard a detailed presentation of the court-appointed clinicians findings in this case, which included parent interviews and videotaped child-parent interaction sequences. RESULTS The array of estimated likelihoods was extreme despite that all the clinicians heard the same case. Recommendations to the court strongly tended toward restriction of child-father contact, even when estimates of the likelihood of abuse were low. CONCLUSIONS Courts should be highly cautious in relying on clinical experts in child custody cases entailing allegations of child sexual abuse. Practitioners should be candid with courts concerning the absence of diagnostic precision in such cases.

Implications of Parental Divorce for Female Development

Conflicting evidence regarding potential negative effects of divorce on daughters may be due in part to methodological differences across studies. Daughters from intact versus maritally disrupted families were compared at different developmental stages. Divorce sequelae among female subjects are more likely to be found when (a) adolescent and adult subjects are studied, (b) one looks beyond the short-term disequilibrium of divorce, (c) the dimensions investigated are related to feminine self-esteem and heterosexual adjustment, and (d) data are gathered in ways other than paper-and-pencil tests. Possible explanations based on developmental issues and aspects of the father-daughter relationship are discussed. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry , 24, 5:538–544, 1985.

The Adjustment of Parentally Bereaved Children: I. Factors Associated with Short-Term Adjustment

Forty parentally bereaved youngsters (age 6–16; 22 girls, 18 boys) and their surviving parent were interviewed and administered standardized measures (BSI, CBCL, CDI, RCMAS, WISC) to assess their emotional adjustment approximately 18 months after their parents death. The sample was predominantly middle class Caucasian, with children relatively free of prior confounding non-bereavement related major stresses. There were marked discrepancies between parent CBCL reports of their childrens adjustment and the childrens self-report, while teacher reports (TRF) were somewhat more closely correlated with parent reports. On average, these bereaved children appeared to be faring well, though with heightened internalizing problems: adolescent boys seemed to be having the most difficulty. Full sample means concealed important differences revealed in gender and age group analyses. Strikingly, the full sample of children scored below national norms for non-bereaved children on depression and anxiety measures. Parent adjustment was the best predictor of child adjustment.

Children's understanding of their emotionally disturbed peers. I. The concept of emotional disturbance.

Study of the interpersonal relations of emotionally disturbed children has focused largely on relationships within the family. Theories of childhood psychopathology focus almost exclusively on the parent-child triad as the etiological core of childhood emotional disturbance (Frank, 1965). Far less attention has been paid to the role of extra-familial attitudes and relationships in childhood psychopathology. In a general way, the increasing importance of the peer group during childhood has been recognized, but researchers have hardly begun to consider whether and how the manifold aspects of relationships between the emotionally disturbed and their normal peers might bear on the course of the disturbance or its refractoriness to treatment (e.g., Solomon and Wahler, 1973). Nor have they considered peer group influences on the development of the emotionally disturbed childs perception of the world and his place within it. Despite increasing recognition of the early importance of peer relations, virtually no systematic information exists on the ways in which normal children view their emotionally disturbed peers. Our purpose in this paper is to report the first of several analyses of data from an initial investigation of childrens understanding of their emotionally disturbed peers. Specifically, we wish to examine whether there is evidence that normal children do, in fact, perceive as emotionally disturbed the symptomatic and distressing behavior of peers that mental health professionals would recognize as indicative of psychopathology. Further, we wish to study these issues with respect to grade and sex differences.

SCHOOL-BASED DEVELOPMENTAL FACILITATION GROUPS FOR CHILDREN OF DIVORCE: A Preventive Intervention

A model of time-limited, school-based groups for children of divorce is presented. Common themes that emerged in groups conducted in three schools suggest that youngsters continue to wrestle with divorce-related conflicts years after the marital disruption. Developmental tasks created by specific post-divorce stresses are described, and multiple brief interventions tied to nodal points in child development are proposed.

Children’s Understanding of Their Emotionally Disturbed Peers. II. Etiological Factors

In a previous study, we (Marsden and Kalter, 1976) found that fourth- and sixth-grade children not only made distinctions between normal and emotionally disturbed behavior, but also were able to discriminate degrees of childhood psychopathology in a manner strikingly congruent with clinician-judges. Having assessed childrens perceptions of emotional disturbance, we turned our attention to how the children might account for the development of such childhood disorders. We are aware of no previous study which has examined childrens views of the etiology of emotionally disturbed behavior of their peers. Such information could shed further light on childrens understanding of childhood psychopathology and might implicitly indicate what children believe are the necessary ingredients for healthy emotional development. This knowledge would be useful to mental health professionals, teachers, and parents seeking both to understand the emotionally disturbed childs place in his peer group and to convey an understanding of emotional illness to normal children.

Response Productivity in Rorschach Research: A Caution on Method

Summary In research with the Rorschach, Ss total number of responses frequently reveal a correlation with specific scoring categories, thus confounding the relations between these categories and other variables. While several methods of controlling for this confounding effect of response productivity have been proposed, one of the most widely used is the division of the frequency of responses in a given category, for each S, by his total number of responses. This procedure is indefensible. Problems in its use are described and illustrated, and more appropriate methods are discussed.