The effects of divorce on Saudi girls’ interpersonal adjustment

Abstract

Considering the increase in divorce in Saudi Arabia, 99 girls, ages 12–16, were randomly selected in the city of Riyadh, SA, to measure the impact of parental divorce on their social and educational adjustment. Multivariate analysis was used to test a model of three independent variables ‘behavior, self-relation, and stress’, which explained 45 percent of the variation in the dependent variable ‘adjustment’. Findings indicate that Saudi girls’ adjustment to divorce was influenced by the Saudi society cultural traditions and expectations. Implications for social work practice in school settings have been drawn based on the available intervention models with children of divorce.