Caught between parents: adolescents' experience in divorced homes

• Published in: Child development 1991-10, Vol.62 (5), p.1008-1029
• Main Authors: Buchanan, C.M, Maccoby, E.E, Dornbusch, S.M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: academic achievement; Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Adolescents; Age Differences; Antisocial Personality Disorder - psychology; anxiety; Anxiety - psychology; Asians; Biological and medical sciences; Blacks; California; Child custody; Children; Children & youth; Cooperation; Coparenting; Depression - psychology; Developmental psychology; Divorce; Divorce - psychology; Emotional Adjustment; emotions; Family Characteristics; Family Conflict; Family Problems; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gender differences; Hispanics; Humans; income; Joint custody; Male; Mediation; Mothers; nationalities and ethnic groups; Parent Child Relations; Parent Child Relationship; Parent Influence; parent-child relationships; Parental Conflict; Parental Cooperation; Parenting - psychology; Parents; Parents & parenting; Personality Development; Preadolescents; Psychology, Adolescent; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Sex Differences; Siblings; social adjustment; Social Environment; Social research; Stress Variables; Whites
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.2307/1131149

This study examined adolescents' feelings of being caught between parents to see whether this construct helps to explain (1) variability in their postdivorce adjustment and (2) associations between family/child characteristics and adolescent adjustment. Adolescents 10 to 18 years old (N = 522) were interviewed by telephone 41/2 years after their parents' separation. Feeling caught between parents was related to high parental conflict and hostility and low parental cooperation. Being close to both parents was associated with low feelings of being caught. The relation between time spent with each parent and feeling caught depended on the coparenting relationship. Adolescents in dual residence were especially likely to feel caught when parents were in high conflict, and especially unlikely to feel caught when parents cooperated. Feeling caught was related to poor adjustment outcomes. Parental conflict was only related to adjustment outcomes indirectly, through adolescents' feelings of being caught.