L’adaptation socio-affective d’enfants de quatre à 12 ans en résidence alternée : une approche écosystémique

Abstract

Aim of studyThis study is based on an exploratory and an ecosystemic theoretical approach (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). This research aims to understand how children in situation of joint physical custody evolve in terms of socioemotional adaptation and to analyze the contribution of individual (children's age and sex), family (parental alliance, income, current marital status of the parents, sibling) and temporal (time elapsed since separation and children age at the beginning of the joint physical custody) factors. Population and methodsThirteen mothers and 13 fathers of 38 children aged 4 to 12years completed questionnaires. The socioemotional adjustment of children was examined through the Child Behavior Checklist 4/18 (Achenbach, 1991) and the parenting alliance was assessed with the Parenting Alliance Inventory (Abidin and Brunner, 1995). ResultsAmong 38 children, 16% figure in the limit or pathological zone on the internalized adaptation, and 10% figure in the same zones assessed by the externalized adaptation scale. Among the factors taken into consideration, we note first, that there is a significant effect of children age: children between 4 to 5 years tend to show less personal internalizing problems than children between 6 to 12 years. Secondly, results reveal that the parent alliance influences only the anxiety/depressive symptoms. Finally, we show the influence of children age at the beginning of joint physical custody on their socioemotional adjustment. Children 4 to 5 years old have more internalizing problems than those aged 1 to 3 years old. However, results indicate that time elapsed since separation moderates the effect of this variable on externalized adaptation. Indeed, children in joint physical custody since the age of 1 to 3 years who have experienced parental separation more than 2 years ago have more externalizing problems than those who experienced this separation 2 years ago or less.