Child health and divorce: Little people, parents, and pediatrics

This exploratory study examines the impact of divorce on child health in order to assist the significant number of children in divorcing families, their parents, and pediatric practitioners. The theoretical framework is Bronfenbrenner's ecology of human development. From a pediatric ecology perspective, divorce is considered a process of changing stresses and resources over time with potential effects on child health. A descriptive paired comparison design is used with a sample drawn from a longitudinal secondary data set from the University of Colorado Institute of Behavioral Genetics. The child health outcome measures used are medical care utilization and selected health conditions (i.e., colds, ear infections, asthma, and bedwetting). Selected data from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Family Environment Scale (FES), health histories (e.g., colds, ear infections), parental smoking, and mobility are examined. The sample (N = 168) consists of 84 children who experienced their parents' divorce by age 12 (M = 69.4 months) and 84 children in nondivorced families, matched for age and gender, drawn from 730 children in 490 adoptive and control families in the Colorado Adoption Project.;During Year 1, all 168 children have at least one medical visit (M = 9). At Year 5, 74% have at least one visit (M = 2.4); at Year 14, 58% have at least one visit (M = 2). At puberty, children with no medical visits are significantly more likely to be the children of divorce (Year 11, p ;Pediatric applications include using health contacts to assess family environments before school entry and establishing school-based clinics to increase access for children at a critical time as they make decisions that may affect their health and lives.