Het functioneren van adolescenten uit gescheiden gezinnen en de rol van brusjes

Abstract

The current study is one of the first to investigate the adjustment of adolescents of divorced families with and without siblings, which also controls for the quality of the sibling relationship. Adolescent adjustment is examined using five areas: well-being, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, self-image, and academic performance. A datafile (N = 1659) from the study ‘Students & Families’ [Scholieren & Gezinnen] from wave 2006 is used. Only those students whose parents are divorced (N = 290) are selected for this study. The results show, on average, no difference between adolescents of divorced families with and without sibling for the five areas of adjustment. However, there is a difference when the quality of the sibling relationship is used as a moderator. This difference pertains to externalizing problems and academic performance. When the quality of the sibling relationship is good, adolescents with one or more siblings of divorced families have fewer externalizing problems and higher academic performance. Relationship quality with a sibling can thus function as a protective factor for adolescents of divorced families. The current research contributes to the knowledge about the influence of the sibling relationship and gives important implications for practice such as answering the question whether it is harmful to siblings to grow up separately after divorce.