A Comparative Study of Health State and School Adaptation between Children in Divorced Family and in Normal Family

학령기 정상가정자녀와 이혼가정자녀의 건강상태와 학교생활적응정도 비교연구

Purpose: This study is a descriptive and comparative study that compares health state and school adaptation between children in divorced family and in normal family. Study results will provide a basic data for the development of an intervention program designed to help children in divorced family adjust to their crisis. Method: The study subjects consisted of 700 children in 4th. 5th or 6th elementary school grade, residing Seoul and Kyunggi regions. Among these subjects, 123 were children with divorced family and 577 were children with normal family. The health status of the subjects was measured by Health Symptom Questionnaire developed by Shin and revised by the investigators. The instrument consisted of 30 items measuring physical and emotional health symptoms. The level of school adaptation of the subjects was measured by School Adaptation Scale developed by Lee, which consisted of 4 dimensions with 20 items what measures relationship with peer students, learning activity, observance of regulation, and participation of school activity. The investigators visited the schools and collected data in the classes using the questionnaire after explaining the purpose and procedures of the study to the children. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, $\yen\"{o}2$-test, t-test, ANOVA using the SPSS PC + statistical program. Result: First, the mean health state score in children with normal family (M=11.99) was higher than that in children with divorced family (M=19.15), showing a significant difference (t=-6.51, p=.000) between the two groups, which suggests that children with normal family have better health state than children with divorced family. Second, the mean school adaptation score in children with normal family (M=38.99) was higher than that in children with divorced family (M=26.97), showing a significant difference between the two groups (t=104.07, p=.000), which suggests that the school adaptation of children with normal family is better than that of children with divorced family. Third, in comparison of health state between the two groups by general characteristics. there were significant differences between the two groups in sex. the most contributing factor to health status of the children, school year. birth order, religion, school achievement, amount of monthly pocket money, parents level of formal education, occupation of parents, economic status (p<.05). Forth, in comparison of the level of school adaptation between the two groups by general characteristics, there were significant differences between the two groups in most variables (p<.05), suggesting that children with normal family had better capacity of school adaptation than children with divorced family. Conclusion: As a result. this study showed that the parent's divorce had great influence on children's health status and school adaptation capacity. The implication for nursing is that there is a need to develop supportive interventions for the high-risk children who have decreased health states and school adaptation capacity due to the divorce of their parents. In addition, it is recommended that further studies should be conducted to explore protective factors for the prevention of health and adaptation problems in children.