Family Break-up, System Break-down: Family Dynamics and Child Adjustment after Divorce

Numerous children around the world grow up in divorced or separated families, which poses a risk for children's short- and long-term adjustment. Yet, children greatly differ in their adjustment after divorce, which is mainly attributed to family functioning rather than the divorce itself. Since the family relationships can be under considerable pressure and divorce requires a reorganization of the entire family, a better understanding of how families continue to function as a system after divorce, and how this affects children’s adjustment is warranted. Based on family systems theory, this dissertation intended to enhance our knowledge on families’ systemic functioning and child adjustment in (recently) divorced families. Five empirical studies based on three samples were conducted, addressing the following aims: (1) to examine the role of multiple family subsystems and their dynamics in post-divorce child adjustment, (2) to gain a better understanding of the impact of boundary diffusion on children after divorce, and (3) to identify factors that make some children more vulnerable to post-divorce family dynamics. Together these studies offer insight into which aspects of the family subsystems are considered most important for children’s post-divorce adjustment, what dynamics between and within family subsystems can be identified, why boundaries between subsystems matter for children, and who are most vulnerable to (negative) family functioning after divorce.

In agreement with some of the key principles of family systems theory, all family subsystems, their dynamics, and boundaries between the subsystems have proven relevant to children’s post-divorce adjustment in the current dissertation. While adjusting to a new family life, children can benefit from many protective factors, such as warm and supportive relationships with all family members, clear boundaries between the (potentially conflictive) parental system and other subsystems, and high levels of self-esteem. Yet, the reorganization of the family system can put families under considerable pressure, and children are at risk for several negative and dysfunctional family dynamics, which seem to have a stronger impact on children than the positive aspects. Conflictive dynamics during a family’s (stressful) process of adaptation after divorce seem to drive negativity throughout the entire family system, and the hierarchical boundaries between the parental system and other subsystems appear crucial. Not only does interparental conflict increase the risk for inept parenting and deteriorated parent-child relationship quality, triangulation and parentification should be regarded a (covert) form of continued discord between parents that is partly played out through their children after divorce. The current dissertation substantiates the stressful position of children when boundary diffusion occurs, as they tend to experience lower self-esteem, and feel more conflicted in their loyalty towards parents, as well as in their parent-child relationships. Especially highly emphatic children warrant attention in that regard, as they seem more vulnerable to the negative repercussions of triangulation. Moving from a broad integration of prior findings towards a more fine-grained understanding of the day-to-day processes, the current dissertation stresses that, despite the reorganization of the family into two separate households after divorce, the functioning of the family as a system remains paramount to children.