Parental separation and divorce: can we provide an ounce of prevention?

Abstract

This month’s American Academy of Pediatrics clinical report on “Helping Children and Families Deal with Divorce and Separation” highlights the continued high incidence of parental separation and divorce in the United States and describes the disturbances of child development, behavior, and health—short- and long-term—that accompany parental conflict and separation. With ∼40% of children experiencing the divorce of their parents before their 16th birthday, parental separation and divorce stands as one of the most common and significant risks to the healthy development of children today. The Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health prepared this report to assist and encourage pediatricians in recognizing early signs of parental conflict, monitoring the well-being of the affected children, advocating for the child’s needs, and striving to maintain a supportive relationship with each parent. However, the Committee also believes that pediatricians have an opportunity to positively influence parental relationships in advance of marital disruption. Pediatricians are often participants in family events that are known stressors to marital relationships. Not only is it important for the clinician to understand how parental conflict may impact the child, we contend that parents and families may gain needed support when pediatricians attend to the ways in which the child may stress the marriage. Even with the most wanted pregnancy, the arrival of the first infant redefines life for the new parents in practically every detail. From changes in daily routines to basic alterations in role and identity, first-time parents enter a new, and often uncharted, phase of life. With the child come incursions on time for the partner, for friends, for work and career goals, for sexual relations, and for leisure activities. Time available for each parent to focus on themselves and on each other usually drops precipitously in the first months of parenthood. Although for many …