[The problem of divorce in adolescence]

In the available literature concerning divorce the situation of affected adolescents rarely is considered. In contrast to younger siblings who exhibit their distress in numerous ways, adolescents seem to be affected to a much lesser extent. Reexaminations over longer periods of time by Wallerstein and Kelly (1980) show however, that adolescents do have medium or long term impairments in their development: school and career problems, lack of emotional attachment and interpersonal relations are well above average. Own results are reported from the work with adolescents who experienced the separation and divorce of their parents, and compared with ideas of adolescents about partnership and marriage who are rather idealized and show a high level of morality. Experiences with a group of adolescents (thematic work) are outlined and compared with experiences from the literature.