The Long-Term Impact of Childhood Parental Divorce: A Qualitative Study

Yijing SHEN

Abstract


This research was aimed at examining the long-term effects of childhood parental divorce on children’s mental health. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 7 Chinese adults aged between 22 and 24 who had experienced childhood parental divorce. The results showed that the adults who participated in the study had suffered psychological stimulation caused by the divorces of their parents in childhood, which led to a range of psychological problems, including depression, anxiety, loss of appetite, insomnia and self-harm. In addition, the study found that both the conflicts that occurred before and after the parents’ divorce and the parenting patterns affected the child’s mental health. Moreover, further researches could be promoted to investigate how the cooling-off period of divorce affected Chinese children’s mental health.

 


Keywords


Children’s mental health; Childhood parental divorce; The long-term effects of parental divorce; The cooling-off period of divorc

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/12848

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