Faculty Articles

Parent-Child Gender Matching and Child Psychological Adjustment after Divorce

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Child Custody

ISSN

1537-940X

Publication Date

4-26-2017

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine whether a parent–child gender match would influence child psychological adjustment after divorce. Participants included 69 parents (36 mothers) in active family law litigation to resolve issues related to postdissolution of marriage or time-sharing matters. Participants provided demographic information and completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991 Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist/4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont. [Google Scholar]) to assess their perceptions of their child’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Results demonstrated that internalizing and externalizing behaviors were not affected by whether children spent more time with the same gender parent, opposite gender parent, or split their time equally between both. Comparisons and contradictions between the results in this study and existing research are discussed, as well as practical implications.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2017.1312658

Volume

14

Issue

1

Peer Reviewed

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