[Differences in the assessment of 9-14-year-old sons of divorced and not divorced parents]

Twenty-eight 9- to 14 years old boys from divorced families were compared with twenty-six 9- to 14 years old boys from two-parent families. Californian Child Q-Sort assessments (Block and Block 1980) were obtained from themselves, as well as from mother, father, a friend, and from the trained interviewer. Boys with divorced parents indicated more stress without showing it to others. They longed for appreciation from the others, showed lower self-esteem and more helplessness, but not more dissocial behavior. Supportive representation of their mother correlated positively with ego-resiliency and self-esteem, and negatively with helplessness, while others did not seem to notice the boys' helplessness. They indicated less dissocial and more social behavior, they were more sensitive and had better relations with other children. Supportive representation of fathers was beneficial only for the control group. The data correspond to differences in quality of narrative language published previously. They are discussed from an attachment theory perspective.