Love Relationships of Children of Divorce

Millions of divorces are granted each year. Children whose parents divorced are more likely to divorce themselves, maintain poorer relations, and report being generally less happy with their lives (Brown 1999). Over 25% of all women will divorce within 10 years time, and a third of all first marriages disrupted within 10 years. Guldner and O'Connor (1991) said that “where possible, group therapy for dealing with problems of children of divorce is the treatment of choice”. Group therapy with kids focuses on helping them to feel like they're not alone, connect with and learn from others, receive peer validation and support, and normalize experiences (Gladding, 2005). Psychoeducational and counseling groups in schools and community agencies have been a way of giving treatment to children of divorce (Delucia-Waack & Gellman 2007).

Psychoeducational and counseling groups for children of divorce have focused on dealing with the reality of the situation, as well as the feelings produced by it. Goals have been identified for these groups (DeLucia-Waack, 2007). They are to: help children gain a clear picture of the divorce process through discussion, normalize common experiences and feelings, provide a safe place to talk about concerns, help label, understand, and express feelings about the divorce, develop new coping skills, assist children in reality testing, and plan for the future. Typical interventions include: discussion of words and situations related to divorce, drawing and talking about families and support persons, learning ways to externalize feelings, and role plays applying new skills to specific divorce-related situations (DeLucia-Waack, 2001; Gladding, 2005). While these groups are often used in schools, the research regar...

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