High-conflict Divorce Research Articles

High Conflict Divorce in Counselor Education: Investigating an Emergent Curricular Gap

High conflict divorce (HCD) is increasingly prevalent, profoundly impacting families, and placing a unique burden on mental health professionals. Despite the significant emotional, psychological, and legal challenges associated with HCD, many counselors report feeling unprepared to address these complex cases due to inadequate training during their graduate education. This study examines the extent to which CACREP-accredited counselor education programs in the United States incorporate HCD content into their curricula. A survey of program directors from Clinical Mental Health Counseling programs revealed that while topics related to family dynamics and conflict resolution are commonly addressed, HCD-specific training is less frequently covered. Key areas, such as litigation and courts and parental alienation and the reunification processes, are often neglected, limiting graduates’ ability to navigate the intricacies of HCD effectively. The findings suggest a need for specialized coursework and expanded training to better prepare counselors for the growing demand in this area. Addressing these gaps could enhance both counselor competency and the well-being of families navigating HCDs.

Physical and Psychological Symptomatology, Co-Parenting, and Emotion Socialization in High-Conflict Divorces: A Profile Analysis.

Although the consequences of divorce and conflict have been extensively studied, most research has focused on children rather than ex-spouses, although variables such as parental health or co-parenting may have an influence on children's development through processes such as emotion socialization. In addition, the relationship between these variables has never been considered in high-conflict divorces. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze the impact of physical and psychological symptomatology and co-parenting on the emotion socialization patterns of parents experiencing high-conflict divorces. Furthermore, the moderating role of resilience was considered, as it has been highly studied as a coping mechanism in adverse situations but barely in divorce at the parental level. For this purpose, a Latent Profile Analysis was carried out with Mplus 8.10, using a sample of 239 parents from Family Visitation Centers. Results revealed, on the one hand, that parents with fewer physical and psychological symptoms sowed more emotion socialization behaviors than those with more symptomatology. On the other hand, in situations of high interparental conflict, the role of co-parenting and resilience seems less relevant than that of physical and psychological symptomatology when analyzing parental skills like emotion socialization.

Women's High-Conflict Divorce Experiences and Access to Statutory Social Services in Turkey

High-conflict divorce proceedings in Turkey typically span 2 years but can extend to 6, reinforcing the perception that institutional violence against women has been widespread under the conservative Justice and Development Party’s 20-year rule. This study poses two primary research questions: (1) What are the legal, sociocultural, financial, and psychological experiences of high-conflict divorced women? (2) Which statutory social services could women access during and after the high-conflict divorce process? Employing a feminist qualitative research approach, this study draws on 20 semi-structured interviews with women in Istanbul who have undergone high-conflict divorces. The goal is to understand these women’s experiences and pinpoint the disparities between their needs and the support available from statutory social services. The findings illuminate the challenges women face while dealing with patriarchal norms within societal, cultural, and financial realms amid the divorce process. Additionally, the study reveals the inadequacies of current family-oriented services and emphasizes the urgent need for women’s rights-based support, including psychosocial, legal, and financial assistance.

Indicators of Child Victimization in High-conflict Divorce: Interprofessional Consensus Based on a Delphi Panel

Indicators of Child Victimization in High-conflict Divorce: Interprofessional Consensus Based on a Delphi Panel

Identifying Indicators of High-Conflict Divorce Among Parents

The burgeoning field of forensic social work supports clients engaged in the legal system. Forensic social work professionals working in family court will often be called upon to assess family dynamics, provide treatment to reduce maladaptation post-divorce, and advise divorcing parents as they navigate the complexities of court. Of particular interest to the forensic social work field are the various risks and protective factors that escalate or mitigate interparental conflict throughout the divorce process. Interparental conflict is a primary moderator accounting for psychological and physiological differences between children of divorced parents and children with intact parents. This systematic review examined the factors that contribute to conflict in divorcing parents and ways to identify high-conflict cases,. Peer-reviewed articles (n=11) were systematically selected using rigorous methods, including PRISMA-P protocols for systematic reviews and database searches using the search string “conflict AND divorce*.” Articles were extracted to identify themes of varying levels of conflict. There is no consistent definition of high conflict in pre-divorce parents, and recent articles offer new conceptualizations of this construct. All studies that met inclusion criteria for the review identified at least one of five themes of pre-divorce conflict: conflict resolution/communication, social network, parent characteristics, satisfaction with agreements, and pervasive mistrust.

Post-divorce adjustment, coparenting and somatisation: Mediating role of anxiety and depression in high-conflict divorces

Post-divorce adjustment, coparenting and somatisation: Mediating role of anxiety and depression in high-conflict divorces

Parent–child contact problems and family intensive interventions: The crisis of adolescent suicidality and the role of social media

AbstractAlthough clinicians, educators and parents have been alarmed by the decline in the mental health of children and adolescents commensurate with the Covid‐19 pandemic, statistics indicate there has been a downward spiral over the last decade. This has been evident in the overall increase in suicide rates for young people. For legal and mental health professionals working in the Family Court system, this has provided unique challenges. Most vulnerable has been those children and adolescents embroiled in high conflict divorces, especially those exhibiting parent child contact problems. This article focuses upon that population exhibiting parent child contact problems, and their treatment, specifically Family Intensive Intervention. Building Family Resilience is an Intensive family treatment program that has had to address this deterioration in child and adolescent mental health and increase in suicidality. The role of social media in both exacerbating and/or ameliorating mental health issues is explored.

Families in High-Conflict Divorces: Parent Outcomes of No Kids in the Middle

ABSTRACT This study reports on the short-term outcomes of the multi-family group intervention “No Kids in the Middle” (NKM). NKM is aimed at decreasing parental conflicts, hostile attributions about the ex-partner, and perceived social network disapproval of the ex-partner in high-conflict divorces (HCD). Interventions such as NKM are important as persistent parental conflicts can have severe negative consequences for children. For the current study, 167 HCD parents completed questionnaires at the start and end of NKM and at 6-month follow-up. A convenience sample of 136 divorced parents who were not in high conflict completed a single assessment. Their scores were used to define whether the reliable change index (RCI) for the HCD group represented a meaningful change. Parental conflict and social network disapproval of parents in a HCD decreased throughout all assessments. Hostile attributions did not change. The results provide initial evidence that NKM might help reduce conflict in HCD.

Counseling High Conflict: Navigating the Complexities of High Conflict Divorce

Practicing counselors will, at some point, work with clients from high-conflict separations/divorces (HCS/D); however, often they have received very little educational training for these experiences. To effectively treat these clients/client families, all counselors should have a working knowledge of the major processes and critical factors involved in these situations. This manuscript emphasizes the role of the counselor within HCS/D, seeks to give both an overview of and describe the complexities of HCS/D that counselors need to understand, and identifies areas of concern and focus for counselors functioning within distinct modalities.

The Parents Divorcing Conflict Scale

Practical measures to screen for high levels of pre-divorce conflict offer a unique opportunity for early intervention by forensic social work professionals in divorces where children are at risk of being exposed to high levels of interparental conflict and subsequent maladjustment. There is a lack of validated short screening instruments specifically addressing pre-divorce conflict for parents with at least one minor child. An instrument of this nature would support those in the forensic social work field in identifying families that may be at risk for a high-conflict divorce process. Accordingly, this study describes the development of a self-report measure to assess conflict in parenting couples who are in the process of divorce. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted with data from a sample of parents in the process of divorce (n=114), and multiple factor structures were examined. The EFA confirmed that a one-factor model offered the best fit. The short 8-item Parents Divorcing Conflict Scale (PDCS) is a promising measure for use in forensic social work, research, and clinical and policy settings as it captures pertinent themes of conflict, including communication, social network, parent characteristics, satisfaction with agreements, and mistrust, and can inform early intervention strategies that will serve to support healthy communication practices amongst divorcing couples throughout the marriage dissolution process.

When Divorces Fail: Disillusionment, Destructivity, and High-Conflict Divorce

When Divorces Fail: Disillusionment, Destructivity, and High-Conflict Divorce

LJUBAVNA MRŽNJA: PSIHODINAMIKA ODNOSA VISOKOKONFLIKTNIH PAROVA U RAZVODU

According to the object relations theory, romantic partners are chosen on the basis of similar, complementary emotional needs and that creates a promise on the conscious and unconscious level that all that was missing in the previous relationships of an individual would be repaired through this relationship. However, in any longer relationship the breach of expectations is inevitable (destruction of an idealized image of the partner), which leads to disappointment. The destiny of the relationship depends on the way in which partners will deal with the frustrating knowledge that their idealisations will not be realised, or the level of maturity of the relationship and each partner, which is a test that many do not pass. It is commonly known that divorce rates are higher than ever before, and some divorces become high-conflict relationships in which all emotions caused by the breakdown of the relationship swirl into one common aspect – parental functioning. This paper is focused on the couples who experience a difficult breakdown of their relationship – with a lot of anger, hostility, distrust, and sometimes with the incidents of verbal and/or physical abuse, accompanied by lengthy and distressing court proceedings. It is noticeable that the conflict has a role of redefining the dynamics of their new partnership relation, and at the same time it serves as a defense of a person who does not have to deal with and face with complex unpleasant emotions that are a part of every divorce. Unable to accept, analyse and tolerate the unpleasantness of the emotions brought by divorce, these couples often use defense mechanisms of splitting and projections. The usage of these mechanisms leads to the dynamics which is characterised by a cycle of harassment, retaliation and failed reparation attempts that in turn lead to further splitting and projection, often with the resulting outcome of a high-conflict divorce. Couples remain connected and locked in mutual patterns of conflict interactions, in a kind of a tango of loving hate in a manner which restricts their capacity to separate on emotional and daily practical level. After presenting two cases from practice that describe the outlined psychodynamic terms and the interactions of partners differently, practical implications which are possible in direct work with former partners will be presented.

Parental Alienating Behaviors in Noah Baumbach’s High-Conflict Divorce Films, the Squid and the Whale and Marriage Story: A Cinematherapy Tool for (Training) Mental Health Providers

Parental Alienating Behaviors in Noah Baumbach’s High-Conflict Divorce Films, the Squid and the Whale and Marriage Story: A Cinematherapy Tool for (Training) Mental Health Providers

High-Conflict Separations and Differentiated Professional Responses – From Confrontational Interaction to Post-Separation Violence and Stalking

ABSTRACT This study explores high-conflict divorces and separations by critically analyzing their central features. It draws on qualitative materials produced through professionals’ work with high-conflict cases. A content-oriented analysis of the materials revealed three types of high-conflict separations differentiated by the following features: 1) confrontational interaction, 2) exacerbation of complicated psychosocial problems, and 3) post-separation violence and/or stalking. Based on these findings, we consider professional responses and interventions in helping families. The aim of the paper is to augment our understanding of high-conflict separations and differentiated professional responses to them in order to help parents and children who are undergoing a high-conflict divorce or separation.

Working With High Conflict Divorce and Custody Cases: An Interview With Lynn Louise Wonders

Dr. Rebecca Pender Baum interviews Lynn Louise Wonders, a licensed professional counselor and registered play therapist supervisor. Ms. Wonders has over 20 years of experience working with children and families. This interview focuses on her work and research into working with high conflict divorce and custody cases. Ms. Wonders discusses her book, When Parents are at War: A Child Therapist's Guide to Navigating High Conflict Divorce and Custody Cases, which highlights potential pitfalls to avoid and the importance of self-care and consultation.

OBILJEŽJA VISOKOKONFLIKTNIH RAZVODA RODITELJA S MALOLJETNOM DJECOM

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH-CONFLICT DIVORCES OF PARENTS WITH MINOR CHILDREN ABSTRACT Researches dealing with divorce from a psychosocial perspective highlight the child’s exposure to parental conflicts during the divorce process and the quality of co-parenting as the two most powerful factors influencing the adjustment of children to the process of divorce. Thus, the adjustment of children is particularly vulnerable in high-conflict divorces. Having this in mind, the emphasis in this paper is on an overview of the definitions of high-conflict divorce and the factors that contribute to it. A better understanding of ongoing conflict between parents can help facilitate risk assessment for developing high-conflict divorces, as well as create evidence-based prevention programs for that matter. The purpose is to undertake preventive and treatment activities to reduce the level of conflict between parents and prevent consequences for children. In addition, the need for the development of such programs is emphasized, as well as their balanced implementation in the social welfare system, through family centers and other authorized social services providers. Key words: high-conflict divorce; consequences for children; predictors; prevention

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young adults experiencing dual family life after high-conflict divorce

Objective: This paper describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the family lives of young adults whose parents had been through a high-conflict divorce and the extent to which these 18-to-30-year-olds believed the COVID-19 measures accommodated for their family situation.
 Background: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family lives has been described in recent literature but no attention has been paid to young adults experiencing parental conflict due to a divorce transition impasse.
 Method: Data from 24 in-depth interviews were collected in the Belgian province of Limburg using a semi-structured interview guide with open questions and analysed via Nvivo.
 Results: Frequency of contact with parents decreased, contact with parents living abroad became nearly impossible. Different interpretations of and approaches to the rules led to frustration and quarrelling in families. The quality of the relationship with parents changed, often in a negative way. Respondents indicated that to their opinion due consideration had not been given to the situation of young adults with divorced parents.
 Conclusion: In order to adequately develop COVID-19 rules that are tailored to a wide range of families, with attention to the most vulnerable ones, we recommend that policy makers define a family by using a “feeling family paradigm” rather than defining a family in terms of a household and that they include a multi-actor and multi-disciplinary perspective in the decision-making processes.

Otuđenje od roditelja i obiteljska medijacija

With the increased number and intensity of disputes related to the realisation of parental care, the number of children who, during these procedures, reject one parent and his or her family under the influence of the other parent has also increased. Such behaviour was firstly described by Gardner in 1985 who called it a parental alienation syndrome. Ever since the concept has been developing through contributions from other experts, so that now it is called parental alienation, and its causes, signs and possible treatment approaches have been described in detail. If timely and adequate help is not provided, alienated children may develop problems in social and physical functioning, as well as psychogenic disorders. A family mediator who is trained about this problem can contribute to its early detection and to the provision of adequate help, because he/she can recognise the problem and refer the parents to court without wasting time on family mediation in the cases in which that is an inadequate intervention. The aim of this paper is to present insights into parental alienation and to explain the role of the family mediator in the assessment and treatment of the same. Key words: parental alienation; family mediation; high-conflict divorce; manipulation, prevention and treatment

Parental Conflicts and Posttraumatic Stress of Children in High-Conflict Divorce Families

Parental conflicts consistently predict negative outcomes for children. Research suggests that children from high-conflict divorces (HCD) may also experience post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), yet little is known about the association between parental conflicts in HCD families and child PTSS. We investigated this association, hypothesizing that parental conflicts would predict child PTSS. We also tested the moderating role of interparental contact frequency, hypothesizing that frequent contact would intensify the association between parental conflicts and child PTSS. This study was part of an observational study on the outcomes of No Kids in the Middle (NKM), a multi-family group intervention for HCD families. A total of 107 children from 68 families participated in the study with at least one parent. We used pre- (T1) and post-intervention (T2) data. Research questions were addressed cross-sectionally, using regression analyses to predict PTSS at T1, and longitudinally, using a correlated change (T1 to T2) model. The cross-sectional findings suggested that mother- and child-reported conflicts, but not father-reported conflicts, were related to the severity of child PTSS. Longitudinally, we found that change in father-reported conflicts, but not change in child- or mother-reported conflicts, were related to change in child PTSS. The estimated associations for the different informants were not significantly different from one another. The frequency of contact between ex-partners did not moderate the relationship between parental conflicts and child PTSS. We conclude that there is a positive association between parental conflicts and child PTSS in HCD families independent of who reports on the conflicts.

Children of high conflict divorce: Exploring the experiences of primary school teachers

• The experiences of teachers teaching children impacted by high conflict divorce. • Teaching distressed children of divorce was emotionally exhausting for teachers. • New insights of how teachers can support distressed children of divorce. • Implications for teacher training and support at different levels are discussed. Ongoing parental conflict after divorce is particularly difficult on school aged children. Consistent research has demonstrated that high conflict divorce can induce adjustment problems and increase risk of child psychopathology. For these children, school represents a safe space to thrive and develop the cognitive, social and emotional skills that can serve as a buffer and reduce the risk of adjustment difficulties and mental health problems. Trained in child development, teachers have the knowledge base and play a critical role in identifying behavioral warning signs of children ‘at risk’. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of teachers working with children exposed to high parental conflict before, during and after divorce/separation. Using semi-structured interviews, five primary school teachers shared their every-day experiences of teaching and caring for primary school aged students struggling to cope with the emotional distress related to high levels of parent stress and parent conflict associated with family breakdown and the process of high conflict divorce. The data was analyzed using an Interpretative Phenomenology Analysis framework by Jonathan Smith. The findings revealed that ‘caring’ for and about studentswas a key feature of being sensitively responsive to these children. However, as highlighted by these teachers, this work is emotionally exhausting and professionally challenging, placing teachers at risk of burnout. The findings contribute to the knowledgebase of how-to best support teachers who teach vulnerable school populations. Implications for teacher training and support at different levels within the school system are discussed.