Vater-Kind-Kontakt und kindliches Wohlbefinden in getrennten und nicht-getrennten Familien

This study investigated determinants of the contact between children and fathers after parental separation and the interplay of family status (non-separated vs. separated families), father-child relationship-quality and child’s well-being. We compared 254 adolescents aged 15 to 19 years, from non-separated and separated families, by administering an adaptation of the “Inventory of Life Quality in Children and Adolescents” (Mattejat u. Remschmidt, 1998) and the scale emotionality of the FPI-R (Fahrenberg, Hampel, Selg, 2000). Contact between fathers and children after parental separation was mainly associated with parental conflict and contact during and after the separation. No significant associations were found with age and gender of the child, maternal remarriage or paternal education. The relationship to the father mediated the effects of family arrangement on different measures of child well-being. In separated families children with little contact to their fathers showed worse relationships to them compared to children in intact families. Good father-child relationships were positively associated with different measures of children’s well-being. A central conclusion of this study is, that the father-child relationship is an important source for child’s well-being.