TY - JOUR
T1 - Inappropriate parental divorce disclosures, the factors that prompt them, and their impact on parents' and adolescents' well-being
AU - Afifi, Tamara D.
AU - McManus, Tara
AU - Hutchinson, Susan
AU - Baker, Birgitta
N1 - Funding Information:
Tamara D. Afifi (formerly Golish) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Tara McManus and Birgitta Baker are doctoral candidates at Penn State University and Susan Hutchinson is an Associate Professor in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This project was partially funded by research grants from the College of Liberal Arts and the Children, Youth, and Family Consortium at Penn State University. Correspondence to: Tamara D. Afifi, Department of Communication, Ellison Hall, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4020, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
PY - 2007/3
Y1 - 2007/3
N2 - Recent research has shown that parents' inappropriate disclosures about the divorce process can be stressful for adolescents. However, little is known about the conditions that prompt parents to disclose inappropriate information about the divorce to them. The current study examines factors (a lack of social support, a lack of control over divorce stressors, and the severity of the divorce stressors) that potentially influence parents to reveal inappropriate information about the divorce to their adolescents. It also explores the impact that these inappropriate disclosures have on parents' and adolescents' well-being. Surveys were gathered from 118 custodial parent-adolescent dyads. The results suggest that a lack of social support and the severity of the stressors did not influence parents' inappropriate disclosures. Custodial parents' lack of control over their divorce-related stressors was the only factor associated with their inappropriate disclosures. When a lack of control over divorced-related stressors was considered, parents with less stressful interparental conflict were likely to be distressed by their inappropriate disclosures, whereas parents who had a strained relationship with their former spouse were not. Adolescents' perceptions of the inappropriate disclosures were also a stronger predictor of adolescents' well-being than the parents' perceptions of their own disclosures.
AB - Recent research has shown that parents' inappropriate disclosures about the divorce process can be stressful for adolescents. However, little is known about the conditions that prompt parents to disclose inappropriate information about the divorce to them. The current study examines factors (a lack of social support, a lack of control over divorce stressors, and the severity of the divorce stressors) that potentially influence parents to reveal inappropriate information about the divorce to their adolescents. It also explores the impact that these inappropriate disclosures have on parents' and adolescents' well-being. Surveys were gathered from 118 custodial parent-adolescent dyads. The results suggest that a lack of social support and the severity of the stressors did not influence parents' inappropriate disclosures. Custodial parents' lack of control over their divorce-related stressors was the only factor associated with their inappropriate disclosures. When a lack of control over divorced-related stressors was considered, parents with less stressful interparental conflict were likely to be distressed by their inappropriate disclosures, whereas parents who had a strained relationship with their former spouse were not. Adolescents' perceptions of the inappropriate disclosures were also a stronger predictor of adolescents' well-being than the parents' perceptions of their own disclosures.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33847367322&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33847367322&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03637750701196870
DO - 10.1080/03637750701196870
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:33847367322
SN - 0363-7751
VL - 74
SP - 78
EP - 102
JO - Communication Monographs
JF - Communication Monographs
IS - 1
ER -