Children in Conflictual Separations: Representations of Self and Family through the Blacky Pictures' Test. Issue 2 (14th March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Procaccia, Rossella; Miragoli, Sarah; Camisasca, Elena; Di Blasio, Paola
• Is Part Of: Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice. Volume 20:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 185
• Page End: 204
• Publication Date: 2020-03-14
• Subjects: Children -- self and family representations -- marital conflicts -- child custody evaluation -- Blacky Pictures Test; Forensic psychology -- Research -- Periodicals; 614.15
• DOI: 10.1080/24732850.2020.1714404
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2473-2850

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This exploratory study aimed to evaluate the effects of conflictual separation and divorce on children's representations of self and of family relationships in child custody evaluations. Forty-seven school-aged children, assessed in the course of civil separation procedures characterized by high levels of marital conflict (high conflict group), and a control group (low conflict group, n=47) matched for sex, age, and social level were asked to complete the Blacky Pictures Test. The protocols were analyzed by experts using the double-blind method on the base of an ad hoc grid. Results showed that children involved in high conflictual separations provided a more unstable self-representation and more negative representation of parents, higher emotional dysregulation (anger, guilt, persecutory distress), and inability to stay alone and to tolerate the ambivalence than the low conflict group.