Parental factors and the young child's postdivorce adjustment: A meta-analysis with implications for parenting arrangements

A model-based meta-analytic review highlighted relationships critical for understanding the young child's postdivorce adjustment when planning parenting arrangements. This review confirmed the utility of an interactional model that includes preseparation information and information about father, mother and the parental alliance. Interactions among the quality and frequency of father's involvement in relation to postdivorce child adjustment that were not clear in studies looking only at direct effects of father-access variables were identified. Results indicated that maternal variables should not be viewed in isolation from the parental alliance or from the father-child relationship. The review discusses variables promoting developmental competence as well as risk factors that clearly interfere with both parental and child functioning.