Findings from a 5-year longitudinal study of 131 children from 60
divorcing families, drawn from a predominantly white, middle-class
California population, revealed unexpected changes in the relationship
between the visiting parent and the child after the marital separation. The
changes that showed improvement and that showed deterioration in 50% of the
father-child relationships were substantially related to the difficulties
and psychological conflicts engendered by visitation and divorce, the
father's capacity to accommodate to the constraints of the visiting
relationship, and the age and sex of the child.Abstract Teaser