Parental Separation and Children's Peer Relations: Investigating Friendship Integration and Peer Rejection in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence.

Parental separation raises children's peer rejection but not friendship integration. Peer rejection increases after separation and remains high for up to four years. No moderating effects were found for the child's age, the child's gender, or parental education. Separation impairs peer relations primarily by heightening children's socioemotional difficulties.