Ouderlijke conflicten bij scheiding en externaliserende problemen van adolescenten en de rol van ouder-adolescentrelatie

Abstract

Background: More than 80.000 Dutch children have to deal with a divorce of their parents each year. Previous research has consistently shown that a divorce can have negative effects on children. Compared to children from intact families children from divorced families experience more externalizing problems, especially in cases of frequent and intense interparental conflicts. More knowledge about the role of the quality of parent-adolescent relationships and the role of interparental conflicts is important to predict, reduce and/or prevent externalizing problems in adolescents. Aim: To examine the relationship between interparental conflict, adolescents’ relationship quality with fathers and mothers, and externalizing problems of 188 Dutch adolescents from divorced families. Method: The current research utilized existing data from an ongoing research project named 'Where do I belong?'. The data consists of self-reported questionnaires by adolescents. Two multiple regression analyses with interaction effect were conducted to investigate the research question, divided in father- and mother-adolescent relationship. Results: Parental conflicts are not directly predictors of externalizing problems. De quality of father-adolescent and mother-adolescent were both found to be significant predictors for externalizing problems of adolescents. In addition, the interaction effect between the independent variables was found not to be significant Conclusion: The quality of parent-adolescent relationship after divorce is relevant to the development of externalizing problems, regardless of the degree of parental conflicts. Therefore, professionals and interventions should focus on the parent-adolescent relationship. In addition, it is important that these interventions can be used within one year after the divorce.