For children, divorce and separation are similar

Divorce and legal separation are the same from a child’s perspective, according to an American clinical psychologist.

The Malta Humanist Association said it contacted US psychologist Joan Kelly who spoke about her research that was cited by Children’s Commissioner Helen D’Amato. The association said Ms Kelly felt her work had been misinterpreted.

At a meeting with members of the anti-divorce movement on Monday, Ms D’Amato said divorce could offer a solution for adults in an unhappy marriage but might not be the best option for children who were best off in a stable family.

To back her argument she quoted a 2003 American study published in the journal Family Relations and written by psychologists Joan Kelly and Robert Emery. The authors looked at several studies on the impact of marital breakdown on children to condense the vast literature in the field and reach their own conclusions.

Using statistics from the paper, Ms D’Amato said 25 per cent of children of divorced parents were at risk of mental health problems as opposed to 10 per cent if the parents were still married.

It later transpired that the report by the two psychologists concluded that: “Although children are harmed by parental divorce, the majority of findings (from various research) show that most children do well.” The association said it contacted Ms Kelly who said: “They have misunderstood the research. The comparisons have been made between groups of children whose parents remain married and those children whose parents have divorced. There is no reason to expect that the psychosocial outcomes for children whose parents divorce, get an annulment or legally separate would be any different.”

Ms D’Amato said she used the figures as one example of risk faced by children during divorce. Had she delved into the paper in detail and left out the conclusion, it would have been a different issue, she added.

She pointed out that the report concluded that children “did well”. “What do they mean by that? It does not say children don’t suffer. The truth is some are resilient and pull through... But the risks remain. Do we want to take those risks?”