Cognitive moderators of children's adjustment to stressful divorce events: the role of negative cognitive errors and positive illusions.
This study examined whether children's cognitive appraisal biases moderate the impact of stressful divorce-related events on psychological adjustment in 355 children ages 9 to 12, whose families had experienced divorce within the past 2 years. Multiple regression indicated that endorsement of negative cognitive errors for hypothetical divorce events moderates the relations between stressful divorce events and self- and maternal reports of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, but only for older children. Positive illusions buffer the effects of stressful divorce events on child-reported depression and mother-reported externalizing problems. Implications of these results for theories of stress and coping, as well as for interventions for children of divorced families, are discussed.
Mazur
E
E
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287-1108, USA.
Wolchik
S A
SA
Virdin
L
L
Sandler
I N
IN
West
S G
SG
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000523:psychology*; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*