Family correlates of stress disorder: development among children of custody litigation in California

This paper studies physiological as well as psychological stress disorders in children as possible outcomes of custody litigation. It introduces a stress disorder model to examine disorders. This model defines and suggests that there are buffers and facilitators that influence the development of disorders in children's lives. The hypothesis set forth is that the more facilitators and the fewer buffers the more likely a child of custody litigation will develop a stress disorder. The data examined was collected by the Social and Behavioral Research Institute at Califom.ia State University at San Marcos. The survey was written and sponsored by the California Court system. Respondents were defined as people who had gone through custody litigation in California in 1991. The disorders examined were speech disorders and emotional/behavioral disorders. Bi-variate cross tabulations were computed and significant associations were examined for each disorder. These associations were examined in terms of their possible buffering or facilitating influence. The hypothesis was supported for each disorder. This paper discusses possible reasons for these associations as well as policy implications for these findings. Future research is suggested to further understand the development of disorders in children of custody litigation.