Divorce Education Research Articles

Patterns of Parental Interactions After Divorce and Individual Well-Being

This study sought to uncover patterns of parental interactions following divorce using multiple empirically-supported indicators related to cooperation, overt conflict, and covert conflict and to link patterns of parental interactions with indicators of adult well-being including stress, life satisfaction, alcohol use, and risk drinking. Using community-based sampling and latent profile analysis, patterns of parental interactions were identified and associations among such patterns and parental well-being were examined for recently divorced parents (N= 246). Reports of parental interactions included parents’ perceptions of their own and their former spouse’s cooperation and covert conflict behaviors, as well as perceptions of overt conflict behaviors in parental interactions. Two patterns of parental interactions were identified (Congruent and Divergent). Among the full sample, neither pattern was linked with any indicator of well-being. Examining these associations separately for mothers and fathers, fathers in the Divergent group reported higher levels of alcohol use than those in the Congruent group (χ2 = 4.64, p = .03). Mothers in the Divergent group reported marginally higher levels of life satisfaction than those in the Congruent group. Utilizing a person-centered approach to uncover patterns of parental interactions yielded groups that differentiated largely on the basis of participant’s perceptions of their former spouses’ behaviors. Future research might consider the impact of perception as a component of divorce education evaluation work.

Is One Hour Enough? Evaluating Utah’s Online Divorce Education Course Based on Course Length Satisfaction

ABSTRACTDivorce education programs for couples with children have become mandatory in many states. State-specific courses vary in terms of delivery method and program length. Using data from 1,690 parents who participated in Utah’s online divorce education course, this study examined program effectiveness based on course length satisfaction. Overall, results suggest the program was effective in obtaining its objectives; however, comparisons between groups revealed significant differences between satisfied and dissatisfied participants across all measures. Participants dissatisfied with course length reported greater uncertainty and disagreement that the course increased their knowledge of divorce-related matters. Possibilities for future research on course length satisfaction and program effectiveness are discussed.

Positive Parenting and Parental Conflict: Contributions to Resilient Coparenting During Divorce

ObjectiveTo examine the influence of positive parenting and parental conflict on the coparenting alliance.BackgroundResearch indicates that child and family outcomes after divorce are affected by the quality of the coparenting relationship between parents, with many divorce education programs focusing on coparenting as a core programmatic component. Less is known about how positive parenting and parental conflict affect the coparenting alliance.MethodThis study collected online survey data from a convenience sample of divorcing parents (N = 430). Participants completed measures of parenting, parental conflict, and coparenting alliance. Regression and simple slope analyses were performed with parental conflict and positive parenting as predictors of coparenting alliance.ResultsPositive parenting and parenting conflict both predicted the coparenting alliance. Low levels of conflict predicted high levels of coparenting when positive parenting was high and moderate; however, conflict did not predict alliance when positive parenting was low.ConclusionParents who engaged in moderate to high positive parenting had the anticipated negative relationship between conflict and coparenting alliance, but this did not hold true for parents who engaged in below average positive parenting, suggesting that both parenting and conflict play a role in a resilient coparenting alliance.ImplicationsDivorcing parents' parenting skills may be important to consider when deciding on prevention and intervention efforts aimed at supporting their coparenting alliance. Therefore, divorce education programs may benefit from incorporating content related to positive parenting and parents with weaker parenting practices may need different types of intervention.

Extension-Based Divorce Education: A Quasi-Experimental Design Study of the Parents Forever Program

ABSTRACTThe field of divorce education is calling for greater rigor in evaluating program effectiveness and University Extension programs are no exception. Parents Forever, a University of Minnesota Extension divorce education program developed in the 1990s, conducted a quasi-experimental design study, with a sample of in-person class participants and a comparison sample of divorcing parents. Independent samples t tests were conducted between the unstandardized residuals of each group. In support of the program’s goals, results indicated positive program effects for several variables related to parenting practices, adult quality of life, self-efficacy, and parent report of child conduct problems and peer problems (p < .01). No effect was found for coparenting conflict, adult social health, and child hyperactivity, and marginal program effects (p < .05), both positive and negative, were found for coparenting alliance (–), positive parenting (+), child emotional symptoms (+), and child prosocial behavior (–).

The Impact of Training Videos on Attitudes About Parenting After Divorce

ABSTRACTMany U.S. states require divorcing parents to take education classes about the impact of divorce on parents and children. As educators, psychiatrists, social workers, and others create these classes, it is important to evaluate what elements of the curriculum are effective in achieving targeted outcomes. Successful Coparenting After Divorce (https://coparenting.fsu.edu) is a free online divorce education course that focuses on issues such as the emotional impact of divorce, conflict reduction, and skills for parental cooperation. The course also includes videos covering topics including examples of negative and positive parental behavior, and testimonials from children. Pilot testing of the videos and the overall course impact with divorcing parents (n = 218) suggested that the videos’ utility were significantly related to the positive change in parents’ perceptions of their relationship with their former spouse, and their child-focused attitudes. Implications for practitioners who design or provide divorce education to parents are discussed.

An Empirically Based Framework for Content Selection and Management in Divorce Education Programs

ABSTRACTContemporary research has shown that divorce education programs are becoming mandated or recommended in numerous states throughout the nation. Cooccurring with the popularity of these programs is the variation in content of divorce education programs. The focus of this project was to systematically explore the research literature on factors related to divorce adjustment and identify findings to be used in content selection and development for divorce education programs. The divorce-stress-adjustment perspective was utilized to frame the divorce process affecting both children and adults. A systematic literature review resulted in identification of 103 published studies that fit the project criteria. Selected research findings identified in the literature review process were organized according to a conceptual framework designed to categorize content in a tiered approach useful for selecting and managing content in divorce education programs. Implications of the project findings for content identification in divorce education, program development, and program evaluation are explored.

Relational conflict and outcomes from an online divorce education program

The impact of conflict on co-parenting outcomes of divorce education programs is not widely explored in the literature despite the prevalence of conflict in divorce. This study used outcome data from a sample of participants (N=272) who took the online Parents Forever™ course between 2012 and 2014. Participants were asked questions about positive and negative co-parenting behaviors as well their levels of conflict before and after the divorce or separation. There was on average a slight increase in conflict from post to follow-up (M=−0.397, SD=1.54). Simple linear regression analyses indicated that change in conflict explained a significant proportion of the variance in positive co-parenting scores, R2=0.07, F(1, 270)=19.98, p<0.001 and negative co-parenting scores, R2=0.08, F(1, 270)=23.78, p<0.001. Results suggest that conflict significantly impacts co-parenting behaviors targeted in the Parents Forever ™ course.

Postdivorce Parenting: A Study of Recently Divorced Mothers and Fathers

ABSTRACTDivorce is challenging for parents with children, commonly resulting in a series of individual and interpersonal adjustments. The time immediately following divorce can be particularly difficult. This study used a modified grounded theory approach to explore the experiences of 99 recently divorced mothers and fathers. Analysis of written narratives revealed 4 emergent groups of parents who described their postdivorce parenting experiences: good divorce, good enough, bad to better, and bad. Each group described their experiences across several areas including coparenting, father involvement, challenges of single parenting, personal turmoil, and their children’s adjustment. Implications for research and divorce education are discussed.

Advancing Co-parenting Education: Toward a Foundation for Supporting Positive Post-Divorce Adjustment

The nature and quality of parents’ post-divorce relationships are linked with children’s emotional and behavioral wellbeing. As such, many states require that divorcing parents participate in coparenting education designed to decrease parental conflict and increase cooperation; yet, few of these courses are rigorously evaluated. A new program entitled Successful Co-parenting After Divorce ( coparenting.fsu.edu ) was created to be a freely accessible, online divorce education program for parents of minor children. The program was launched in Florida, but is available nationally for parents, as well as social workers, mental health professionals, and lawyers who assist parents during the divorce process. Description of the training, including innovations in the use of video and technology is provided. An evaluation plan, which includes assessment of co-parenting attitudes and behaviors, mental health symptomology, and childhood trauma is detailed. Future directions for the implementation of the program are discussed. In addition, description of a new measure to assess post-divorce co-parenting behaviors is provided.

Parent Education Programs: Review of the Literature and Annotated Bibliography

Court-connected parent education programs are an integral family service component in most of the nation’s family courts. These programs are implemented to enable the courts to respond efficiently and effectively to the proliferation of cases involving separation, divorce, and related issues such as child custody and access (Sigal, Sandler, Wolchik, and Braver, 2008; Pollet and Lombreglia, 2008; McIntosh and Deacon-Wood, 2003). Since 2007, parent education classes are mandatory in forty-six states (Pollet and Lombreglia, 2008). In Maryland, every court with jurisdiction over divorce and child custody matters utilizes some form of parent education.The findings discussed in this literature review indicate that divorce education is more effective in certain circumstances than in others. Divorce education is less successful in improving communication between parents who already are well into the divorce process, and it is more successful when introduced earlier in the divorce process (Pollet and Lombreglia, 2008; McIntosh and Deacon-Wood, 2003; Thoennes and Pearson, 1999). The literature also indicates that skills-based, interactive divorce education programs are more effective than divorce education programs that simply provide parents with information presented in a didactic format (Bacon and McKenzie 2004).

Parents Forever: Evaluation of an Online Divorce Education Program

Divorce education programs are conducting increasingly rigorous impact evaluations to assess if their curriculum improves parenting practices, reduces conflict in the coparenting relationship, and improves outcomes for children. This article presents a 6-month follow-up evaluation of the online version of Parents Forever, an 8-hour divorce education course developed by the University of Minnesota Extension. At follow-up, parents (N = 232) reported significant improvements on several questions about postdivorce parenting and well-being, indicating that the online version of Parents Forever is effective in promoting positive behavioral change for parents.

A Rigorous Quasi-Experimental Design to Evaluate the Causal Effect of a Mandatory Divorce Education Program

All couples with minor children who filed for divorce within a specific 6-week period (N = 191 couples) in one jurisdiction were ordered to attend a divorce education program. The control group included about 20 couples randomly selected from each of six 6-week intervals before and six 6-week intervals after the treatment interval (N = 243 couples). Archival records were searched for variables such as legal and residential custody award, visitation percentage, and relitigation. The impact of the program was assessed by evaluating, for each variable, whether the data for program interval departed from the straight (regression) line drawn through all the control group intervals. Only the visitation time award significantly differed: 27.75% for treatment couples and 22.46% for control couples. Analyses show that the father's attendance at the program primarily accounts for the difference. Key Points for the Family Court Community There are considerable methodological weaknesses in most of the existing evaluations of divorcing parent education programs. Stronger, more scientifically rigorous—and thus persuasive—designs are possible in court settings, such as the regression discontinuity quasi-experimental design we feature here. Archival records, such as various court filings, are a rich and relatively untapped source of data. Being mandated to attend a single 2-hour divorcing parent education class caused an increase in the visitation time award in divorce decrees. There is a disconnect between being mandated by a judge to attend a program and actual attendance.

Buffering Negative Impacts of Divorce on Children: Evaluating Impact of Divorce Education

Following the call for more stringent evaluation methodology and recently documented national Extension presence in the field of divorce education for parents and children, the study reported here describes a local multi-level evaluation to capture program impact of a stakeholder-accepted divorce education program. Using a post-then-pre retrospective scale and validated measures of inter-parental conflict and child adjustment, participants showed significant gains in key co-parenting and community resources knowledge and significant decreases in inter-parental conflict. Selected components of the evaluation design are applicable to Extension faculty working in divorce education programs.

Adolescent use of care for behavioural and emotional problems: types, determinants and trends

SA Reijneveld, PA Wiegersma, DEMC Jansen Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Contact: s.a.reijneveld@umcg.nl Background Adolescents frequently have behavioural and emotional problems, that limit their daily functioning. A minority of them receives care. Evidence on determinants and types of care used, including the role of specialized vs. general care is lacking. Objective: To assess the use of various types of care by adolescents because of behavioural and emotional problems, the determinants of this use, and to what extent these determinants explain trends in use by age, for ages 10-19 years. Design/Methods We obtained longitudinal data on 2,230 adolescents during ages 10-19 years in four measurement waves. Data concerned use of various types of care (general including paediatric care, and specialized car i.e. youth social care, and youth mental healthcare) in the preceding 6 months, behavioural and emotional problems (CBCL), and child and family characteristics. We used multilevel logistic regression to analyse the effects of determinants on use per type of care. Results At all ages, use of general care was higher than of specialized care. Overall rates of use increased from 20.1% at age 10/11 to 32.2%. at 19. At age 10/11 use was higher among boys than among girls, but towards age 19, it more than doubled among girls while being rather stable among boys. Use of general care increased among both genders, whereas use of specialized care increased among girls but decreased among boys. This differential change could partially be accounted for by a few factors, being CBCL externalizing and internalizing problems, school problems, family socioeconomic status (SES) and parental divorce. Moreover, use of general care was more likely among low and medium SES families (odds ratios, OR: 1.52 (1.23; 1.88) and 1.40 (1.17;1.67). Use of social care was more likely in case of parental divorce (OR 2.07 (1.36; 3.17) and special education, OR 2.66 (1.78; 3.95), and use of mental healthcare in special education, OR 2.66 (1.60; 4.51). Conclusions Adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems most frequently use general care provided by e.g. general practitioners and child health physicians. Overall use increases with age in girls. Social care or mental health care is used relatively more frequently if adolescents have more behavioral and emotional problems, and receive special education. Key messages Adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems most frequently use general care provided by e.g. general practitioners and child health physicians. Overall use increases in particular in girls from age 11 to age 19, and increases in behavioral and emotional problems explain this partially.

Serving the Needs of Separating and Divorcing Families: A National Survey of Extension Parenting Education Programs and Resources

An online survey was developed to map Extension's presence in divorce education initiatives and to catalogue the amount, type, and availability of resources that each state has dedicated to meeting the needs of this parent audience. Requests for participation were sent to members on the National Extension Human Service listserv and resulted in representation from 48 out of 50 states and one U. S. territory. Results document a national presence, outline the nature and expression of Extension divorce education programs, and suggest a direction for future collaboration related to this topic.

Divorce Education for Parents: A Comparison of Online and In-Person Delivery Methods

Divorce education classes are common across the United States, and results suggest they are generally effective. No studies, however, have examined the effectiveness of an online version of a divorce education course. Using data from a sample of 778 divorced and separated parents who participated in the Focus on Kids (FOK) divorce education class in person, and 517 participants who completed the online version of the course, we examine program effectiveness by method of delivery. Results from retrospective pre–post surveys indicate there are minimal differences in understanding, knowledge, and anticipated behavior change across delivery method. Overall, both groups of parents indicated the FOK program was helpful and worthwhile, and anticipated making positive changes in their coparenting behaviors as a result.

Impacts of Parents Forever on Parental Behavior and Adjustment During Divorce: A Short-Term Follow-Up Evaluation Study

The focus of this research project was to investigate the perceived usefulness and impacts of a 4-hour divorce education workshop offered to adults. The program, Parents Forever, is a parent education program designed to assist adults dealing with the divorce or separation process and educate them about the effects on children and strategies for effective coparenting. Participants included 238 individuals who completed the workshop and then participated in an initial postprogram survey and a follow-up survey 2 months later, with 82 individuals completing the follow-up survey. The questionnaires evaluated the participants' perceptions regarding program usefulness, program impacts on their behavior, and demographic and participation variables of interest. Participants indicated positive views of program usefulness and significant adjustments in specific divorce-related behaviors. The implications of the findings for support of divorce education programs are explored.

A REVIEW OF ONLINE DIVORCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Divorce education programs first surfaced over four decades ago. Today, many states mandate parents to participate in a divorce education program before their dissolution can be finalized. Changes in the technological landscape have allowed innovative practitioners to create online divorce education programs, yet these programs have not been formally evaluated for quality. Adapting a research design for evaluating face-to-face programs, we created an online divorce education review form and reviewed online divorce education programs that parents use to meet court-mandated requirements. Results reveal that online programs have significant potential to help divorcing parents, yet there are areas of online program content and instructional strategies that can be improved. Program content that includes legal and court focused topics or modules, or that offer advice for families facing special circumstances such as domestic violence, could be enhanced. Additionally, most of the instructional strategies were passive. With this research, recommendations were made for improving program content and instructional strategies for online divorce education programs.

Focus on Kids: Evaluation of a Research-Based Divorce Education Program

Using data from a sample of 2,274 divorced or separated parents who participated in the Focus on Kids (FOK) divorce education program, we examine program effectiveness by demographic characteristics. We followed up with 149 participants after between 4 and 10 months with a follow-up posttest survey to examine long-term effectiveness. Overall, the vast majority of parents indicated that the FOK program was helpful and worthwhile. However, younger participants, females, and those with lower education levels and lower incomes found the program to be most helpful. At follow-up, parents were less likely to be engaging in coparenting conflict. Implications for divorce education programs are discussed.

Our Divorce Culture: A Durkheimian Perspective

Comparative studies of children from divorced and intact families consistently find that children of divorced marriages have more short- and long-term psychological and social issues than children from intact marriages. This has led to the need for an evaluation of our divorce culture. The purpose of this research is to analyze the general population's attitudes on divorce involving children by gender, race, age, socioeconomic status, and participation in religious activities to see if our opinion of divorce is corresponding to the reality of its effect on children. Research-based divorce education programs have been shown to produce positive results in social and psychological readjustment for both children and adults. The findings of this study allow research-based divorce education programs to identify where to focus their services for children and adults. In addition, these findings support the implementation of policy to mandate the development of research-based divorce education programs in each state.