Stadelmann S Perren S Groeben M von Klitzing K 2010 In this longitudinal study, we examine whether the effect of parental separation on kindergarten children's behavioral/emotional problems varies according to the level of family conflict, and children's parental representations. One hundred and eighty seven children were assessed at ages 5 and 6. Family conflict was assessed using parents' ratings. Children's parental representations were assessed using a story-stem task. A multiinformant approach (parent, teacher, child) was employed to assess children's behavioral/emotional problems. Bivariate results showed that separation, family conflict, and negative parental representations were associated with children's behavioral/emotional problems. However, in multivariate analyses, when controlling for gender and symptoms at age 5, we found that children of separated parents who showed negative parental representations had a significantly greater increase in conduct problems between 5 and 6 than all other children. In terms of emotional symptoms and hyperactivity, symptoms at 5 and (for hyperactivity only) gender were the only predictors for symptoms 1 year later. Our results suggest that kindergarten children's representations of parent-child relationships moderate the impact of parental separation on the development of conduct problems, and underline play and narration as a possible route to access the thoughts and feelings of young children faced with parental separation. application/pdf https://sonar.ch/global/documents/4799 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01310.x info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/20377637 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Family process. - 2010 Adaptation, Psychological Affective Symptoms Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity Child Child, Preschool Conflict, Psychological Divorce Emotions Female Humans Longitudinal Studies Male Marriage Mental Disorders Models, Psychological Multivariate Analysis Parent-Child Relations Psychometrics Stress, Psychological Surveys and Questionnaires Parental separation and children's behavioral/emotional problems: the impact of parental representations and family conflict. http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501