A Study of adolescent peer relationship associated with parents divorce

Objective: To review the literature on development in the peer relationships of the adolescents within the context of their parents’ divorce. Method: The cognitive and sociocultural literature was searched to analyze the social interactions of the adolescents of divorced parents. Results: The evidence supports the variations in adolescents’ peer relations based on their family structure. Comparisons with the adolescents of the nuclear families and the step-families suggest certain types of interactions the adolescents of divorced parents experience. Conclusions: Divorce of the parents is associated with the difficulties their children at adolescent experience, such as the higher level of social isolation among their peers or their incompetence in social skills. For there is not much known about the integration into the world of peers of the adolescents from the divorced families, while their general psychological and cognitive development after the separation is often studied, future study will need to focus on their peer interactions at their school environment and the social treatment for the possible hardships in their peer relations.