Looking at the Bright Side: Forgiveness and Subjective Well-Being in Divorced Spanish Parents

Marriage dissolution might cause frustration, resentment and pain. Forgiveness is view as an adaptive reaction that has positive effects on post-divorce adjustment and coparenting; but much remains unknown about the place of forgiveness in the subjective well-being of divorced parents. The objective of the present study was to analyze in a multidimensional model the role played by forgiveness in post-divorce subjective well-being, empirically examining the relationships between time since divorce, affect (positive and negative), forgiveness and satisfaction with life in a group of Spanish divorced parents. Data were collected from 223 divorced Spanish parents (58.3 % mothers) aged 21–64 years, and who had 1–3 children. Results showed that forgiveness and time since divorce partially mediated the effect of positive affect on satisfaction with life: individuals with high levels of positive affect, over time, were more forgiving of their ex-spouses, which in turn enhanced their satisfaction with life. The present study complements the existing literature about the importance of forgiveness in post-divorce coparenting highlighting the place of forgiveness in the subjective well-being of divorced parents.     

Helping Divorced Parents to Benefit Adolescent Children: A Prospective Enrichment Programme

This study proposes a prospective integrative theory-based enrichment programme for divorced custodial parents to help their adolescent children. The programme comprises five brief sessions addressing: the needs of parents for information on post-divorce experiences of their children (cognitive component); the acquisition and practice of skills to improve effective parenting (behavioural component); the opportunity to share mutual feelings and experiences in a supportive group context (affective and social components) and reflection on positive post-divorce outcomes (philosophical component).     

Predictors of Developmental Task Attainment for Young Adults from Divorced Families

To determine which variables impact developmental task attainment for young adults from divorced families, respondents completed demographic questions, the young adult version of the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire, and the three family relationship subscales of the Family Environment Scale. Of the factors assessed, results suggest that the quality of post-divorce family functioning is the most salient predictor of development for young adults from divorced families. Additionally, although conflict and cohesion have unique effects on task attainment for young adults, expressiveness appears to be the dimension of post divorce family functioning most related to young adult development.     

After the break-up: How divorcing affects individuals at work

Divorce is one of life's most stressful events. By pairing two studies, using mixed-methods, and drawing on conservation of resources theory, we contribute new and previously unavailable information about three questions. How and to what extent does going through a divorce affect individuals at work? What factors differentiate a lower versus higher impact on work? Do work outcomes improve after a divorce has been completed? In Study 1, individuals currently in the process of divorcing report more negative mood at work, lower job performance, and lower health in comparison to employees recently divorced, divorced over 5 years ago, or never divorced. Qualitative findings illustrate vivid reports of intrusive negative affect and reduced focus at work. At the same time, nearly 39% of individuals reported that divorcing had a positive impact on their job, work, or career. Qualitative findings reveal that for some, divorcing frees up time and energy and amplifies motivation for work. Study 2 is a longitudinal survey study of individuals in the process of a divorce. Findings indicate that levels of divorce-related grief, quality of the dissolving marriage, the presence of children, and anticipated post-divorce financial stability differentiate between those with better and worse work outcomes. Individuals improve on work-related cognitive and physical engagement, job performance, and health after their divorces are completed. Our results extend empirical knowledge and theory with new insights about work outcomes associated with divorcing as well as the recovery of work outcomes over time.     

Marriages and psychological distress among adult offspring of divorce: a Norwegian study

The study compares the likelihood of getting married and of getting divorced among the adult offspring of divorced parents versus the adult offspring of parents who remain married (total N = 37,230). It also compares levels of psychological distress in the two groups (total N= 22,898). Data derive from The Nord‐Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) and population registries from Norway. Individuals with divorced parents tended to delay marriage or not marry at all. However, among those who married, there were more divorces among the offspring of divorced parents than among offspring of parents who were still married. Offspring of divorce tended to marry other offspring of divorce. These marriages were at especially high risk of dissolution. Parental divorce was particularly influential as a risk factor during the first years of marriage. Both parental divorce and the individuals’ own divorce were risk factors for psychological distress.     

Post-divorce adaptation and the attribution of responsibility

A study was conducted to explore the possible relationship between post-divorce adjustment and the attributions divorced women give for the failure of their marriages. The study revealed that significantly more subjects who attributed their divorces to interactive rather than personal factors were more active, more socially skilled, happier, more optimistic, and less likely to blame themselves rather than outside forces for failures. The findings were also analyzed in light of whether or not subjects had initiated their divorce proceedings. The importance of making interactive attributions was discussed.We would like to thank Cynthia Weinman for her help in conducting the study. We are also grateful to the City University of New York for providing the funds for this research.     

Couples' Concurrent Cognitions The Influence of Relational Satisfaction on the Thoughts Couples Have as They Converse

Studies of cognition in relationships show that people's thoughts about their partners shape and reflect the quality of relationships. Some research further suggests that women's cognitions are more relationship-centered than men's. The data supporting these arguments, however, often are based on partners' retrospective reports or responses to hypothetical scenarios. This study examined partners' concurrent cognitions—the thoughts they have during the course of interaction. Data were collected using a modification of “protocol analysis.” Partners conversed over networked computers and also voiced what they were thinking. Results indicated that those who were dissatisfied with their relationship expressed significantly more negative thoughts about their partner, fewer positive thoughts about their partner, and fewer positive thoughts about their relationship than did those who were satisfied. Dissatisfied men vocalized fewer negative thoughts about themselves than did those who were satisfied. ‘Women's thoughts were not more focused on relationship-oriented issues than were men's; men expressed more negative cognitions about relationships. The findings confirm that there are distinctions between the concurrent cognitions of satisfied and dissatisfied partners. Researchers should continue questioning the influence of gender on the ways partners evaluate their relationships.     

Divorced women's sexual and contraceptive issues

This work attempts to answer the question: could divorce create a feeling of alienation in women which causes one to feel vulnerable and detached and thus making sexual decision-making and planning difficult? When a women is married her sexuality is taken for granted because she is expected to have children; however, after a divorce, she must face many of the conflicts she felt as a young single woman. Guilt, planning contraceptive use, and coming to terms with her sexual behavior all present themselves again. 1 factor that must be considered is that contraceptive use is always assumed to be the function of the married women. Very little research has gone into the contraceptive use habits of unmarried women. This is primarily due to the societal assumption that unmarried woman don't have sex. This work contains the clinical observation of the author in which 28% of 459 prenatal patients were interviewed specifically because they were divorced. The conclusion is that divorced women are being neglected by the health care profession and are in great need of contraceptive counseling. This work primarily discusses a study done to expand and examine the conclusions of the clinical research. The study consisted of 101 sexually active, legally divorced, single women between the ages of 18-44 and physiologically capable of becoming pregnant. 53 of these women had experienced post-divorce pregnancies. Each woman was interviewed and given 3 standard tests: the Rosenberg Self-Acceptance Scale, the Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale and Beckham's Coping Strategies Scale. The conclusion of the author is that divorce and its associated psychological problems may temporarily or permanently affect one's thoughts, feelings, and life course. Sexual and contraceptive use decision-making are both directly both directly affected by these changes. Some divorced women may be experiencing inadequate self-esteem, identity, and self-awareness.     

Mother-to-Daughter Disclosure After Divorce: Are There Costs and Benefits?

To investigate the association between post-divorce mother-to-daughter disclosure regarding sensitive topics and adolescent daughters' adjustment and closeness to mother, we collected data from 62 adolescent girls within the first two years after their mother's divorce. Analyses revealed that most mothers in the current sample have disclosed to their daughters to some degree about the five sensitive topic areas studied. In accordance with structural family systems theory, we found that detailed mother-to-daughter disclosures regarding financial concerns, negativity toward ex-husband, job ups-and-downs, and personal concerns were clearly associated with greater daughter psychological distress, but not with greater feelings of mother-daughter closeness, as existing retrospective research would have predicted. Daughters' worrying about their mothers explained (mediated) the link between maternal disclosure and daughter's distress to some extent. We discuss methodological issues as well as the valuable contributions that future, more contextualized research could make to understanding the conditions under which detailed mother-to-adolescent disclosure may be more or less risky.     

“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.     

The crisis of divorce: An opportunity for constructive change

In this article the authors seek a partial answer to the intriguing question of the nature of the factors which help some persons achieve healthy resolution of the divorce crisis with personal gains and successful post-divorce adjustment. A group of 24 divorced people (all members of different Israeli kibbutzim) who fulfilled the criteria used by the authors to identify good adjustment to crisis and personal growth after divorce reported on the beneficial influences which, in their opinion, contributed to the gainful outcome.     

The crisis of divorce: An opportunity for constructive change

In this article the authors seek a partial answer to the intriguing question of the nature of the factors which help some persons achieve healthy resolution of the divorce crisis with personal gains and successful post-divorce adjustment. A group of 24 divorced people (all members of different Israeli kibbutzim) who fulfilled the criteria used by the authors to identify good adjustment to crisis and personal growth after divorce reported on the beneficial influences which, in their opinion, contributed to the gainful outcome.(1982, Winter)     

Irrational Beliefs as Predictors of Emotional Adjustment after Divorce

The goal of this study was to analyze the role of irrational beliefs and other mediating variables in emotional adjustment after marital separation. Self-esteem and attachment to the ex-spouse were chosen as indicators of emotional adjustment. For this purpose several mediation centres and associations for separated people took part in the project. The results showed that irrational beliefs, as well as length of conflict during marriage, time since divorce and desire of contact with the former spouse, are good predictors of emotional adjustment. It has been suggested that Rational-Emotive-Behavior Therapy can be used in the treatment of divorced people.     

Climbing mountains,hugging trees: A cross-cultural examination of love for nature

Developing a renewed love for nature is – some argue – a crucial component of addressing the environmental crisis. However, the connection between emotional bonds to nature and effective environmental action is not always straightforward, especially given vastly different notions of “love” and “nature” in different cultures. This article evaluates different models of “loving nature” in terms of their relationship to action and the inclusivity of their scope. In Norway, several philosopher-mountaineers advocate loving nature through friluftsliv, or outdoor exploration; while this approach has promoted change in a wealthy, sparsely populated country, its wider applicability and its approach to gender is questioned. In India, the Chipko movement, which aimed to save trees by hugging them, seems to provide a more inclusive form of loving nature. On closer examination, though, some Chipko advocates rely heavily on a vision of nature that is highly feminized and divorced from social realities. Alternatives to friluftsliv and Chipko are then examined, including Sigmund Kvaløy’s political ecophilosophy and varkari movements in India. Those movements that have a more practical, less idealized, view of nature-love are more likely to effect lasting, positive ecosocial change.     

The efficacy of symbolic modeling and vicarious reinforcement in increasing coping-method adherence

The aim of this study was to test a method of increasing adherence to a coping method assignment in individuals interested in reducing stress. Eighty university students and 48 adult nonstudents were asked to write about their emotions for 15 minutes per day over 3 days. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions, with the experimental manipulation being an adherence intervention involving symbolic modeling and vicarious reinforcement. A word count and self-report measures showed significantly higher adherence in the adherence intervention group. Additionally, the adherence intervention group showed significantly more reduction in distress than the writing instructions only group. Finally, the amount of adherence was significantly associated with amount of reduction in self-reported distress. The results provide the first evidence of the efficacy of symbolic modeling and vicarious reinforcement in increasing the use and clinical benefits of a recommended coping method.     

Children’s Post-Divorce Living Arrangements and School Engagement: Financial Resources,Parent–Child Relationship,Selectivity and Stress

Children’s post-divorce living arrangements have become increasingly heterogeneous the past decades, because of the rise in shared residence and stepfamily formation. This study investigates how post-divorce living arrangements (i.e. the combination between residential arrangement and stepparent presence) are related to children’s school engagement. The focus is put on different explanations of the relation between living arrangements and school engagement, namely financial resources, parent–child relationship, selectivity and stress. Structural equation models are performed on a sample of children with divorced parents from the Leuven Adolescent and Family Study data 2008–2011 (n?=?1630). First, the results show that stepfamilies have higher financial resources than single-parent families, but these higher financial resources are not directly related to children’s school engagement. Second, parent–child relationship is an important mediator between post-divorce living arrangements and school engagement. The results suggest that shared residence is related to a better fatherchild relationship and in this manner improves school engagement. The relation between stepparent presence and the parent–child relationship is less straightforward, and the findings suggest that the combination of residential arrangement, stepfather and stepmother presence should be taken into account. Third, children’s sociodemographic characteristics, time since divorce and level of pre-divorce conflict function as selection mechanisms, as they are related to both post-divorce living arrangements and children’s school engagement. Finally, the findings indicate that the complexity of multiple part-time residential figures is stressful to children. This may partially counterbalance the benefits of such systems, via the better parent–child relationship and the higher financial resources.     

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.     

Why did the white bear return? Obsessive-compulsive symptoms and attributions for unsuccessful thought suppression

The current study examined the nature and consequences of attributions about unsuccessful thought suppression. Undergraduate students with either high (n=67) or low (n=59) levels of obsessive–compulsive symptoms rated attributions to explain their unsuccessful thought suppression attempts. We expected that self-blaming attributions and attributions ascribing importance to unwanted thoughts would predict more distress and greater recurrence of thoughts during time spent monitoring or suppressing unwanted thoughts. Further, we expected that these attributions would mediate the relationship between obsessive–compulsive symptom levels and the negative thought suppression outcomes (distress and thought recurrence). Structural equation models largely confirmed the hypotheses, suggesting that attributions may be an important factor in explaining the consequences of thought suppression. Implications are discussed for cognitive theories of obsessive–compulsive disorder and thought suppression.     

Parent interaction after divorce: Comparison of mediated and adversarial divorce processes

The interactions and perceptions of two groups of divorcing parents using different dispute resolution processes were compared at final divorce and at 1 and 2 years post-divorce. Using objective and standardized measures, the effectiveness of a comprehensive divorce mediation process was contrasted to the more customary two attorney adversarial process. The 153 parents at final divorce were part of a larger, longitudinal study of 435 divorcing men and women who were followed from the beginning of divorce to 2 years post-divorce. Parents in the divorce mediation group reported less conflict during the divorcing period, and less conflict, more contact and communication, and a more positive attitude toward the other parent at final divorce, results which remained significant after controlling for several baseline group differences. The majority of differences favoring the mediation intervention continued through the first year after divorce, and disappeared by the 2 year post-divorce data collection. The nature of the mediation process is discussed in relation to these parental behaviors and attitudes.