Divorce process variables and the co-parental relationship and parental role fulfillment of divorced parents

This study examines the association between two sets of divorce process variables, a) initiation of and responsibility for the divorce and b) difficulty and duration of the legal procedure, and divorced spouses' co-parental relationship and parental functioning. In a random sample of 50 former couples, in Israel, findings showed that the longer and more conflictual the legal proceedings, the worse the coparental relationship in the view of both parents. They also showed that mothers' parental functioning was not significantly associated with any of the divorce variables, but fathers' were. The more responsibility the father assumed for the divorce and the more he viewed himself as the initiator, the more he fulfilled his parental functions. The findings are interpreted in the discussion, and their theoretical and practical implications considered.     

Adolescent school performance following parental divorce: are there family factors that can enhance success?

Most research on the effects of divorce on children has focused on delineation of specific areas of child maladjustment. A more optimistic approach seeks to identify variables that may mediate negative effects of a stressor, such as parental divorce. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between one area of child adjustment, school achievement, and family factors which may mediate the negative influence of divorce. The subjects were 71 early adolescents and their recently divorced mothers. The adolescents were divided into low, medium, and high grade achievement groups. Analyses of variance and subsequent Newman-Keuls tests revealed that adolescents with high grade point averages had mothers with a lower level of depression, a higher educational level, less conflict with their ex-spouse, and less intense levels of conflict between mother and adolescent than those in the low grade point average group. A discriminant analysis resulted in a two-variable equation which accounted for 33% of the variance between low and high grade achievers. The two variables were mother's report of conflict between her and her ex-spouse in front of the adolescent and the adolescent's report of the intensity of arguments between him/herself and mother. These results indicated that school performance following divorce is not uniform for all adolescents and that family factors may mediate scholastic achievement problems.     

Theory-based screening for prevention: Focusing on mediating processes in children of divorce

Prevention programs in mental health theoretically can benefit from selecting participants who have a greater likelihood of developing psychological problems because of their exposure to the putative mediators targeted for change in an intervention. Screening on mediators may increase statistical power to detect program effects, enhance the cost-effectiveness of intervention trials, and decrease the possibility of iatrogenic effects. The circumstances that optimize the strategy of screening on the basis of mediating variables are discussed, and data are presented to illustrate the development of a mediational selection strategy to identify families who might best benefit from a preventive intervention for children of divorce. In addition, we present evidence that adjustment problems for children experiencing a divorce, as with most mental health problems, are not the result of one specific factor, but are jointly determined by several mediating processes that occur subsequent to the divorce. The mediational selection strategy developed illustrates the utility of measuring a set of mediational processes central to conferring risk for mental health problems to children of divorce.     

The additive and interactive effects of parenting and temperament in predicting adjustment problems of children of divorce

Investigated the interaction between parenting and temperament in predicting adjustment problems in children of divorce. The study utilized a sample of 231 mothers and children, 9 to 12 years old, who had experienced divorce within the previous 2 years. Both mothers' and children's reports on parenting, temperament, and adjustment variables were obtained and combined to create cross-reporter measures of the variables. Parenting and temperament were directly and independently related to outcomes consistent with an additive model of their effects. Significant interactions indicated that parental rejection was more strongly related to adjustment problems for children low in positive emotionality, and inconsistent discipline was more strongly related to adjustment problems for children high in impulsivity. These findings suggest that children who are high in impulsivity may be at greater risk for developing problems, whereas positive emotionality may operate as a protective factor, decreasing the risk of adjustment problems in response to negative parenting.     

The efficacy of postdivorce intervention programs for children: A meta-analytical review

Preventive postdivorce interventions aim to help children cope with divorce and promote their adjustment. Nevertheless, questions remain regarding the concrete outcomes of these interventions and the intervention characteristics that influence them. This meta-analysis of 30 studies analyzes the efficacy of postdivorce interventions on children's symptomatology, personal resources, and adaptation to divorce. Likewise, it explores whether the intervention impacts the putative mediators from the family context and whether the characteristics of the studies themselves also influence the results. Using a data set of N = 4344 individuals, 258 effect sizes were calculated. Random effects analyses evidenced the impact of the interventions on specific variables instead of on children's global adjustment. There were no significant effects on children's mental health outcomes, and none of these effects were qualified by the moderators that were examined. Preventive postdivorce interventions had significant effects, specifically on children's divorce adjustment and self-esteem. The study of the moderators found that the interventions were generally homogeneous, and only one of the 20 moderators examined had a significant effect. Based on children's age, the interventions had an impact on family functioning only when they involved younger children, but this result should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample of studies. This meta-analysis provides evidence of the relevance of postdivorce interventions to critical variables as well as information about the role of the intervention characteristics in the effects and makes suggestions for future research on divorce interventions that encompass both practical and empirical developments.     

Adolescent adjustment and well-being: effects of parental divorce and distress

This study investigates the long-term effects of parental divorce on adolescent psychological adjustment and well-being, and to what extent the effects are accounted for by parental psychological distress. Data were collected among 8,984 Norwegian adolescents (13-19 years) and their parents. Outcome variables were symptoms of anxiety and depression, subjective well-being, and three areas of school problems. Parental divorce was found to be associated with both higher mean levels and larger variances in adolescent problems. Divorce and parental distress contributed independently to adolescent distress, supporting the notion of "double exposure" effects. The prevalence of adolescents with substantial distress symptoms was 14% among those with non-distressed non-divorced parents and 30% among those with divorced and distressed parents. In general effects remained when controlling for demographic factors. Long-term effects of divorce on symptoms of anxiety and depression were stronger among girls than among boys.     

Searching for a two-factor model of marriage duration: commentary on Gottman and Levenson

Gottman and Levenson (2002) report a number of post hoc ordinary least squares regressions to "predict" the length of marriage, given that divorce has occurred. We argue that the type of statistical model they use is inappropriate for answering clinically relevant questions about the causes and timing of divorce, and present several reasons why an alternative family of models called duration models would be more appropriate. The distribution of marriage length is not bimodal, as Gottman and Levenson suggest, and their search for a two-factor model for explaining marriage length is misguided. Their regression models omit many variables known to affect marriage length, and instead use variables that were pre-screened for their predictive ability. Their final model is based on data for only 15 cases, including one unusual case that has undue influence on the results. For these and other technical reasons presented in the text, we believe that Gottman and Levenson's results are not replicable, and that they should not be used to guide interventions for couples in clinical settings.     

Framing divorce reform: media, morality, and the politics of family

No-fault statutes changed divorce from an adversarial system pitting victims against victimizers, with the state acting as enforcer of marital norms, to a private decision between unhappily married but legally blameless partners. Divorce reform following no-fault primarily focused on making divorce more fair for the parties involved. Over the last several decades, divorce reform has transitioned from making divorce better to making marriage healthier. The good divorce has slipped from policy attention, elevating the potential for restigmatization of divorced couples and their children. We trace the trajectory of media framing of divorce reform discourse in three general circulation newspapers from the start of the no-fault revolution, noting how media framing parallels and naturalizes the transition in divorce reform policy. We conclude by observing the prevalence of divorce and the related need for therapists to be cognizant of this naturalization process, thereby keeping the good divorce as a goal for those who desire to end their marriages.     

Religiosity in Emerging Adulthood: Familial Variables and Adjustment

The current study is an examination of the familial variables associated with the expression of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and the relationship between religiosity and adjustment in emerging adulthood. Three hundred and five emerging adults completed questionnaires regarding their religiosity, psychological adjustment, and several familial variables. Parental divorce, perceived parental marital satisfaction, and family support were found to relate to religiosity. Additionally, those classified as intrinsically and indiscriminately religious reported higher levels of self-esteem than the extrinsically religious. The current study highlights the importance of examining multiple contextual variables simultaneously in order to assess the true multidimensional aspect of religious expression in emerging adulthood. Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, May 2004.     

Father Postdivorce Well-Being: An Exploratory Model

The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model of the psychological well-being of fathers following divorce. The theory postulated that father postdivorce well-being was related to father role clarity, role satisfaction, age, income, education level, custody arrangement, encouragement from others, time since divorce, and involvement in an intimate relationship following divorce. Participants were 94 fathers from a midwestern city who completed self-administered questionnaires. Data were assessed using path analytic techniques. Involvement in an intimate relationship was found to have the greatest influence on father postdivorce well-being. Role satisfaction had direct effects on father postdivorce well-being and was important as a mediating variable for 4 constructs within the model. The findings suggest that father well-being following divorce is a complex phenomenon, influenced by all of the model variables except income, education level, and time since divorce. Implications for preventive intervention strategies, based on risk factors identified in this study, and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Father postdivorce well-being: an exploratory model

The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model of the psychological well-being of fathers following divorce. The theory postulated that father postdivorce well-being was related to father role clarity, role satisfaction, age, income, education level, custody arrangement, encouragement from others, time since divorce, and involvement in an intimate relationship following divorce. Participants were 94 fathers from a midwestern city who completed self-administered questionnaires. Data were assessed using path analytic techniques. Involvement in an intimate relationship was found to have the greatest influence on father postdivorce well-being. Role satisfaction had direct effects on father postdivorce well-being and was important as a mediating variable for 4 constructs within the model. The findings suggest that father well-being following divorce is a complex phenomenon, influenced by all of the model variables except income, education level, and time since divorce. Implications for preventive intervention strategies, based on risk factors identified in this study, and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Parental divorce during adolescence and adjustment in early adulthood

The present study examined the impact of parental divorce during adolescence, interparental conflict, and intimacy with parents on young adult adjustment. One hundred sixty-seven undergraduate students (146 females, 21 males) completed a questionnaire regarding their psychosocial adjustment, their present relationships with their parents, the level of interparental conflict experienced during adolescence, and the marital status of their parents during adolescence. High levels of interparental conflict were found to be negatively associated with adjustment and current intimacy with parents. A poor relationship with both parents was negatively associated with several domains of psychosocial adjustment, while high intimacy with at least one parent was positively associated with adjustment. Intimacy with mother and with father were found to be the most important predictors of psychosocial adjustment. This investigation highlights the importance of maintaining a good parent-young adult relationship, particularly in divorced families. The findings indicate that future research should examine multiple family variables when assessing the impact of parental divorce or conflict on young adult adjustment.     

离婚对儿童青少年心理发展的影响:父母冲突的重要作用

离婚对儿童青少年心理发展的影响从20世纪70年代末开始引起国内外研究者的极大关注。本文从以下三个方面对离婚如何影响儿童青少年心理发展的研究进行综述:(1)离婚与儿童青少年心理发展关系的研究在不同历史阶段的理论变迁——从"严重影响说"到"有限影响说";(2)离婚影响儿童青少年心理发展的机制探讨:大量研究都证实父母冲突是比离婚本身对儿童青少年影响更大的一个因素,离婚前父母冲突会调节离婚对儿童青少年的影响方向和大小,离婚后的父母冲突与父母共同养育会通过影响亲子关系和父母的教养行为进而对儿童青少年的心理发展造成影响;(3)现有研究对实践工作以及未来研究方向的启示。     

Divorce and Death: Forty Years of the Charleston Heart Study

ABSTRACT— Forty years of follow-up data from the Charleston Heart Study (CHS) were used to examine the risk for early mortality associated with marital separation or divorce in a sample of more than 1,300 adults assessed on several occasions between 1960 and 2000. Participants who were separated or divorced at the start of the study evidenced significantly elevated rates of early mortality, and these results held after adjusting for baseline health status and other demographic variables. Being separated or divorced throughout the CHS follow-up window was one of the strongest predictors of early mortality. However, the excess mortality risk associated with separation or divorce was completely eliminated when participants who had ever experienced a marital separation or divorce during the study were compared with all other participants. These findings suggest that a key predictor of early death is the amount of time people live as separated or divorced. It is possible that the mortality risk conferred by marital dissolution is due to dimensions of personality that predict divorce as well as a decreased likelihood of future remarriage.     

Treatment‐as‐Usual for Couples: Trajectories Before and After Beginning Couple Therapy

Couple therapy has been shown to be a meaningful way to improve couples’ relationships. However, less information is known about couples’ functioning prior to entering treatment in community settings, as well as how their relationship functioning changes from initiating therapy onward. This study examined 87 couples who began community‐based couple therapy during a longitudinal study of couples in the military. The couples were assessed six times over the course of 3 years, including time points before and after starting couple therapy. Using an interrupted‐time series design, we examined trajectories across the start of couple therapy in relationship satisfaction, divorce proneness, and negative communication. The results demonstrated that couples’ relationship satisfaction was declining and both divorce proneness and negative communication were increasing prior to entering couple therapy. After starting couple therapy, couples’ functioning on all three variables leveled off but did not show further change, but previous experience in relationship education moderated these effects. Specifically, those who were assigned to the relationship education program (vs. control) demonstrated greater reductions in divorce proneness and greater increases marital satisfaction after starting therapy; however, they also started more distressed.     

The effect of parental divorce on young adults' romantic relationship dissolution: What makes a difference?

It was proposed that parental divorce does not have a uniform effect on young adults' romantic relationships and that differential outcomes depend on how young adults perceive their parents' divorce. Using a sample of 571 young adults, structural equation modeling suggested that, compared with those from intact families, young adults whose parents divorced held a more favorable attitude toward divorce. A positive attitude toward divorce was associated with lower commitment to their romantic relationship, which in turn affected its dissolution. More importantly, young adults' perception of parental divorce varied depending on interparental conflict and parents' marital quality before the divorce. The variation in the perception of interparental divorce was linked to relationship dissolution via attitude toward divorce and relationship commitment.     

“Broken Glass”: The Divorced Woman in Moslem Arab Society in Israel

This article presents the findings of a preliminary, qualitative, exploratory study of divorce in Israeli-Arab society from the perspectives of divorced women living in Jaffa, Israel, and of Arab professionals engaged in therapeutic work. It explores the causes of divorce, the women's coping with the divorce process, and what constitutes post-divorce adjustment, based on the experiences of nine divorced Moslem Arab women and the input of six Arab professionals. The women attributed their divorces to extreme external factors: their husband's substance abuse, mental illness, and/or severe physical violence against them, as well as to interference by their husband's family of origin. They told of coping by relying on their inner resources and the strength their children gave them, while their own families of origin were almost uniformly critical and rejecting. They defined post-divorce adjustment as passing the test of female honor posed by their community, which they did by downplaying their femininity and immersing themselves in housework and childcare. The findings were compared with the research and clinical knowledge that has accumulated on divorce in Western society.     

Attitudes Toward Divorce: Embeddedness and Outcomes in Personal Relationships

Divorce attitudes, attitude embeddedness, parental marital status and conflict, and personal relationship outcomes were examined in a sample of 289 undergraduate students. Results indicated that highly embedded divorce attitudes were more predictive of evaluations of divorce issues and relationship scenarios than were less embedded attitudes. Consistent with findings that divorce attitudes influence personal relationships ( Amato & DeBoer, 2001 ), participants with embedded divorce attitudes reported greater conflict and influence of relationship partners. Recollections of high parental conflict were associated with greater relationship conflict; and individuals from high-conflict intact families reported greater relationship closeness, conflict, and embedded divorce attitudes. Consequences of parental divorce and conflict for offspring divorce attitudes are discussed, as well as future research on divorce attitudes and their strength.     

Effects of parental divorce on marital commitment and confidence

Research on the intergenerational transmission of divorce has demonstrated that compared with offspring of nondivorced parents, those of divorced parents generally have more negative attitudes toward marriage as an institution and are less optimistic about the feasibility of a long-lasting, healthy marriage. It is also possible that when entering marriage themselves, adults whose parents divorced have less personal relationship commitment to their own marriages and less confidence in their own ability to maintain a happy marriage with their spouse. However, this prediction has not been tested. In the current study, we assessed relationship commitment and relationship confidence, as well as parental divorce and retrospectively reported interparental conflict, in a sample of 265 engaged couples prior to their first marriage. Results demonstrated that women's, but not men's, parental divorce was associated with lower relationship commitment and lower relationship confidence. These effects persisted when controlling for the influence of recalled interparental conflict and premarital relationship adjustment. The current findings suggest that women whose parents divorced are more likely to enter marriage with relatively lower commitment to, and confidence in, the future of those marriages, potentially raising their risk for divorce.     

An Analysis of Schema Theory and Learning Theory as Explanations for Variance in Adolescent Adjustment to Divorce

Learning theory and schema theory were evaluated as possible explanations for the variance found in the adjustment of adolescent children of divorce. Self-report questionnaires were completed by first year Psychology and Economics students at Stellenbosch University. Participants completed Antonovsky's Life Orientation Questionnaire (measuring adjustment); Hudson's CAM and CAF questionnaires (measuring relationships with mother and father, respectively); and a set of questions measuring attitude to divorce; as well as a biographical questionnaire. Schema theory was not supported conclusively, as results showed only limited evidence for attitude to divorce acting as a mediator between the parent-child relationship and the child's adjustment. Results did, however, support learning theory as an adequate explanation for the positive correlations found between parent-adolescent relationships and adolescent adjustment. Knowledge of the importance of learning theory in explaining variance in adolescent adjustment to divorce can increase parents' awareness of their influence on their children's adjustment. This can also be used in the design of therapeutic programs for families going through divorce.