A Afetividade da Criança no Litígio dos Pais

Abstract

The present dissertation is the result of the development of a subproject linked to the umbrella project: Family, Subjectivity and Human Development. The research line was the Clinical Psychopathology and Health Psychology of the Master’s Program from the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás (PUC - GO). The theme of the subproject is The Affectivity of Children in Parents’ Divorce Litigation, from the perspective of Human Development, through the qualitative method and the principles of qualitative epistemology. The general objective was to analyse and to qualitatively understand some aspects of the affectivity of a child in light of human development theories as well as the subjectivity theory definitions. The specific objective was to construct, describe and analyse categories related to the affectivity of a child in parents’ divorce litigation. The research field was the Educative Justice of Families project (Justiça Educativa de Famílias), originated from the umbrella project mentioned previously. They work with groups of families called “grupos interfamiliares” sent by the Court of Justice of the State of Goiás, through the II Judiciary Centre for Conflicts and Citizenship, with the aim of challenging these families, through dialogue and reflection, to generate new subjective meanings about the divorce process and to develop themselves as human beings. The subjects participating in the subproject were between 10 and 13 years old. The inclusion criteria were: the children agree to participate and sign the Term of Agreement (TA), the parents’ present availability and signature of the Informed Consent Form (TCLE), having full knowledge of the possible risks and benefits arising from the children’s participation in the research. The instruments for conducting the research were games and pretend games. The results from the analysis of the information showed the depth of the dispute faced by parents in the litigious divorce process and how this dispute can affect the historical cultural process of a child’s affectivity development. In all four cases, several aspects of affectivity were presented: weeping, anger, fear and anxiety, among other feelings. The anguish, in some cases, motivated suicidal thoughts. The objectives were achieved, as it was possible, through the construction of categories, to describe and analyse these qualitative aspects of a child’s affectivity when going through a parent’s divorce litigation, as indicators that cause intense suffering and that the child is not always properly cared for. These results show that there is a need for further research on the theme in the perspective of subjectivity.