Family residency and psychosomatic problems among adolescents in Sweden: The impact of child-parent relations

Abstract

The structure of the family, as well as the child-parent relationships needs to be taken into account, to properly estimate the magnitude of the family situation as a determinant of adolescent psychosomatic problems. Our results justify universal intervention at the policy level.

Divorce and Family Structure in Norway: Associations With Adolescent Mental Health

“…However, youth in JPC displayed somewhat higher levels than those in a nuclear family, similar to findings reported in three other studies conducted in Sweden. 173,174,234 Of note, another Swedish study found no difference between children in nuclear families and in JPC. 176 To the best of my knowledge, no study has yet investigated health complaints across different family structures, while also considering the siblings present in the household.…”

“…In brief, findings suggest that children and youth in JPC display lower levels of stress, and health-related-and psychosomatic problems than those living in single parent or stepparent families. 155, [172][173][174][175][176] Several studies have found that children and youth in JPC have fewer mental health problems compared to those in single parent and stepparent families. 61,62,124,177,178 Furthermore, children and youth in JPC tend to report higher life satisfaction and well-being, 179 higher selfesteem, 180 and report lower levels of risk behaviors than their peers in single parent families.…”

“…Indeed, several 72 studies, including results from the present thesis, suggest that accounting for some of the commonly held selection factors (i.e., parental education and income measures) reduces differences in adjustment between adolescents in JPC compared to other post-divorce family structures. 42,47,61,155,173 A recent review concluded that JPC is generally linked to better outcomes even when accounting for factors such as income or parental conflict. 47 Specifically, of 36 studies including measures of parental conflict, JPC was associated with better outcomes on all measures in 18 studies, and equal to better in 11 studies, and only worse on one outcome measured in 4 studies.…”

Children's and Parents’ Well‐Being in Joint Physical Custody: A Literature Review

“…Thus, the benefit of having two close parent–child relationships in high‐conflict families may even be outweighed by the emotional cost of stress. Several other studies confirmed that it is not the total amount of time spent with the child that is related to better outcomes, but the quality of the parenting (Hagquist, ; Sandler, Wheeler, & Braver, ; Spruijt, de Goede, & Vandervalk, ).…”

“…Several large‐scale Swedish studies and one from Norway, defining joint physical custody as equal shared‐time arrangements, focusing on mental health as measure of child's well‐being (using, e.g., the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire, SDQ) showed that children in nuclear families scored lower than children with separated or divorced parents, but that children in joint physical arrangements scored lower than children in sole physical custody arrangements (Bergström, Fransson, Hjern, Köhler, & Wallby, ; Bergström, Fransson, Wells, Köhler, & Hjern, ; Bergström et al., ; Fransson, Turunen, Hjern, Östberg, & Bergström, ; Hagquist, ; Jablonska & Lindberg, ; Nilsen, Breivik, Wold, & Bøe, ).…”