Protective factors
 Competent and involved custodial parents
 Cooperative co-parenting
 Individual child characteristics such as intelligence, ability to self-regulate, independence, high self-esteem
 Strong internal resources in parents
 Positive achievements in academics, sports, and positive peer relations
 A close sustained relationship with a competent adult such as a teacher, other family member, therapist, friend’s parent, etc.
 Having an easy temperament
 Positive sibling support
 The active and continued involvement of both parents
 Economic stability
 Positive parent-child relationships
 Interventions that enabled parents to settle disputes: divorce education programs and mediation
 A positive father-child relationship
 Mothers having a high degree of warmth toward their children
 One parent having a positive relationship with their child
 Low level of parental hostility
Risk factors
 Custodial parent exhibiting less effective parenting
 Diminished involvement from the noncustodial parent
 Continued parental hostility with each other after the divorce
 The diminishment of economic resources
 Low maternal warmth
 Mothers with a high level of depressive symptoms
 Continued and repeated life changes including changes in residence and schools
 Subsequent parental relationships, marriages, and divorces
 A divorce process that is acrimonious