“GET OVER IT”: PERSPECTIVES ON DIVORCE FROM YOUNG CHILDREN*

Abstract

Young children's perspectives on divorce were examined using a multimethod assessment. Forty‐one children ages 3.5 to 7.5 were recruited from a preventive intervention program for divorcing parents. Most children gave simple but accurate descriptions of divorce processes. Play themes centered on wishes for parental reunion, concerns for security, and complexities of having two homes. Despite the prevalence of fantasy reunion play, most children drew parents as apart in the family drawing, suggesting realistic shifts in family schemas. Intervention group children exhibited clearer, more balanced views of their fathers and displayed more coherent and less affectively disrupted play sequences.