INNER-CITY, POOR CHILDREN OF DIVORCE - NEGATIVE DIVORCE-RELATED EVENTS, PROBLEMATIC BELIEFS AND ADJUSTMENT PROBLEMS

This study examined the relations between negative divorce-related eve nts, four type, of beliefs about the divorce and the adjustment proble ms of 35 inner-city, poor children of divorce. Both parental and child ren's perspectives on children's adjustment were obtained. Negative di vorce-related events were significantly, positively related to both ch ildren's and parents' reports of adjustment problems. Only one type of belief about divorce, fear of abandonment, was significantly, positiv ely related to both children's and parents' reports of adjustment prob lems. Beliefs involving maternal blame were marginally related to pare ntal reports of children's adjustment problems. The implications of th ese findings for interventions for poor children of divorce are discus sed.