[Psychological effects of parental separation on children]

A study on the psychological consequences of parental separation on children was performed among 3,098 pupils of first year secondary school during the 1995-1996 academic year in the department of Isère. The children family situation was compared with the results of personality test of Coopersmith (SEI). The main characteristics of the children, in particular family condition such as parental death or parental separation are in agreement with the French national data. Among the children with separated parents, 29% were less than 3 years old when their parents broke up. In 85% of the cases the child lived mainly with his/her mother, in 9% of the cases with his/her father, in 4% of cases in a joint-custody arrangement, in 1% of the cases in an other person's home. The overall SEI scores were good. There was a significant overrepresentation of girls with extreme scores. Compared with the scores of the children of unseparated parents, the average SEI scores were low for children with separated parents and for children with one dead parent, but differences were observed between girls end boys. The age of children at the time of the separation did not influence the SEI score and there was little influence of the father-child regular contacts.