EFFECTS OF DIVORCE ON PARENT-CHILD COMMUNICATIONS
Literature relevant to the effects of divorce on parent-child communications is reviewed. Following this literature review, a brief proposal for the conduct of research in this area of interest is presented.
Divorce, Communications Deterioration, and Loss of Child Trust
A variety of reasons underlie the disaffection of young people from their society and their families. One of these factors is abuseùboth physical and psychologicalùperpetrated by someone in a position of trust or authority in the life of a young person (Rowland, 1991). Psychological abuse of children by parents is common in family environments characterized by divorce. Such psychological abuse most frequently is perpetrated through interpersonal communications between parent and child. One of the most debilitating outcomes of such psychological abuse experienced by a young person is a loss of self-esteem (Ogata, 1990). Communications-related psychological abuse, and the hopelessness and depression that often stems from abuse, frequently leads to a loss of self-esteem (Witt, 1997, pp. 46-49). The loss of self-esteem leads many adolescents to consider suicide (Sanders & Giolas, 1991). The cycle of abuse, hopelessness, depression, the loss of self-esteem, and suicide ideation involves such factors as a failure to develop effective interpersonal skills, ineffective social integration, and dysfunctional families (Jean-Gilles and Crittenden, 1990). A variety of family-based factors in conjunction with divorce may underlie the development of such problems. Among the more significant of these factors are abuse of the child, sexual abuse of the child, the abusive use of alcohol by adults in the family, social acceptance of the child within the family, and psychologically at-risk parents (Mann, Grimes, Kemp, & Jenkins, 1997).
A major outcome of dysfunctional family environments is the development of depress...