Divorce of parents and the symptoms of trauma in children

A research was conducted in the Centre for Child Protection of the city of Zagreb on the sample of 397 children and young persons aged between 8 and 20 years (the majority were children aged between 8 and 14). The aim of the research was to analyse the connection between the experience of the divorce of parents and the existence of the symptoms of trauma on the clinical sample of the children who are the clients of the Centre for Child Protection. The level of the trauma symptoms was assessed by the Checklist of the trauma symptoms. The connection between the experience of the divorce of the parents and the exposure to the family violence and peer violence was also examined. The research has shown that, in this clinical sample, the divorce of the parents is not a predictor of the level of child traumatization. The research has also shown that abused children display most symptoms of trauma.