Divorce Reaction Behaviors:
- Infrequent contact or loss of contact with a parental figure due to separation or divorce.
- Intense emotional reaction (e.g., crying, begging, pleading, temper outbursts) associated with separation of parental figures and/or when making the transfer from one parents home to another.
- Persistent fears and worries about being abandoned or separated from a parent.
- Strong feelings of grief and sadness combined with feelings of low self-worth, lack of confidence, social withdrawal, and loss of interest in activities that normally bring pleasure.
- Feelings of guilt accompanied by unreasonable belief regarding behaving in some manner to cause parents divorce and/or failing to prevent their divorce from occurring.
- Marked increase in frequency and severity of acting-out, oppositional, and aggressive behaviors since the onset of parents marital problems, separation, or divorce.
- Significant decline in school performance and lack of interest or motivation in school-related activities.
- Appearance of regressive behaviors (e.g., thumb-sucking, baby talk, rocking, bed-wetting).
- Pseudomaturity as manifested by denying or suppressing painful emotions about parents divorce and often assuming parental roles or responsibilities.
- Numerous psychosomatic complaints in response to anticipated separations, stress, or frustration.
- Loss of contact with positive support network due to geographic move.