BEHAVIORAL-DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN OF DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE

We employed an autoregressive modelling technique with data from the Q uebec Longitudinal Study to prospectively examine the developmental im pact of family transition on behaviour while controlling for predivorc e and preremarriage effects. Teachers rated children's anxious, hypera ctive, physically aggressive, oppositional, and prosocial behaviour ev ery 2 years from kindergarten through to the end of elementary school. Once individual and parental characteristics and antecedent family ev ents were controlled, children who experienced parental divorce before age 6 exhibited comparatively more behavioural disturbance than their peers whose parents divorced later. With the exception of a protectiv e effect on hyperactive behaviour, remarriage did not have a significa nt impact on children's behaviour when the legacy of divorce was contr olled. Although the results suggest that children of divorced parents show difficulty in many areas of functioning, the effects of family tr ansition on behavioural development were dependent on the child's age and the specific behavioural dimension assessed. Compared to other poi nts in development, early childhood divorce was associated with long-t erm increases in anxious, hyperactive, and oppositional behaviour duri ng later childhood. The effects of divorce on children's fighting were short-lived. Unlike previous prospective studies that suggest predivo rce effects, we did not observe behavioural disturbance prior to divor ce or-remarriage.