Divorce and Mental Health Sequelae for Children: A Two-Year Follow-up of a Nationwide Sample

This is the initial report of longitudinal findings from the National Association of School Psychologists-Kent State University, nationwide study of the impact of divorce on children. Results are based on multifactored mental health assessment of 110 children from the original sample of 699 children assessed 2 years previously. Consistent with Time-1 analyses, divorced-family children performed more poorly than intact-family children on several indices, and boys showed more adverse effects than did girls. Stability and predictive significance of Time-1 mental health scores were also greater for girls than boys across the 2-year time period. ANCOVAs controlling for family income demonstrated a reduced-number of differences between the groups, whereas controls for child's IQ did not. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 5:531–537, 1985.