Postdivorce Parenting Research Articles

Feeling Like Home Again: After Divorce Processes from Different Family Perspective

This study aims to unfold the changing home phenomenon for all family members in the divorce process from different perspectives in the context of feeling like home again. This is a descriptive document review study. The data source of the research consists of articles published and the search made using the keywords divorce, post-divorce parenting, consequences of divorce, home-making practices, and post-divorce sense of belonging. Although the divorce process brings about physical and relational changes in the family structure and hence the home environment, all family members can overcome these painful times with minimum trauma and even have higher well-being than in the pre-divorce period. The children can continue a relationship of love and trust with their parents, and former spouses can withstand the burden brought by divorce much more quickly by feeling like home again.

Who's Going to Keep Us Safe? Surviving Domestic Violence and Shared Parenting During Covid-19.

This paper discusses the experiences during COVID-19 of mothers who have young children, are survivors of domestic violence and who share parenting to highlight the further unsafe situations survivors of violence and their children were placed in during the pandemic. Part of a larger mixed methods study, these participants (n = 19) from three Canadian provinces, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, engaged in virtual individual one-on-one interviews via zoom. Using thematic analysis, four themes emerged from the data: 1) increased use of coercive controlling behaviors; 2) fear of the unknown; 3) lack of supports; and, 4) finding balance. Direct quotes are used to highlight the meaning of each theme. We outline the challenges these women have that are in addition to those experienced by many during COVID-19 times (increased stress, isolation, disconnect from supports, financial challenges). These include managing the shared parenting arrangements with a former abusive partner who used the pandemic as a further opportunity for coercive controlling behaviors under the guise of the public health order. The mothers were left to manage the difficult exchanges with a former abusive partner and unknown circumstances of the pandemic without guidance and support from legal actors. There will need to be a prioritization of the safety of mothers and their children in post-divorce parenting arrangements both during times of a community lockdown such as during the pandemic and also during non-pandemic times.

Post-Divorce Parenting: Characteristics Related to the Assignment of Custody of Children after the Breakdown of Heterosexual Marriages. The Case of Andalusia

La presente investigación se centra en identificar la relación de determinadas variables sociales con la asignación de la custodia tras el divorcio de matrimonios heterosexuales en Andalucía. Para ello se emplea metodología cuantitativa, utilizando la Estadística de Nulidades, Separaciones y Divorcios (INE, 2017) y datos de indicadores económicos como el Producto Interior Bruto (2017). Su explotación permite tener en cuenta todo un conjunto de variables necesarias para comprender el fenómeno objeto de estudio. Se realizan análisis de tipo descriptivo y multivariante (análisis factorial y de correspondencias). Los principales resultados obtenidos confirman que variables como el número de hijos menores o mayores dependientes, el fallo de la sentencia y el PIB de cada provincia, están relacionadas significativamente con la modalidad de custodia finalmente asignada. Otras variables como la edad de los cónyuges o su nacionalidad no parecen tener asociación en la modalidad que se otorga.

"Latent profiles of postdivorce parenting time, conflict, and quality: Children's adjustment associations,": Correction to Elam et al. (2019).

Reports an error in "Latent profiles of postdivorce parenting time, conflict, and quality: Children's adjustment associations" by Kit K. Elam, Irwin Sandler, Sharlene A. Wolchik, Jenn-Yun Tein and Adam Rogers (Journal of Family Psychology, 2019[Aug], Vol 33[5], 499-510). In the article, the following funding information was missing from the author note: "This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DAO26874-01A1). The work of Sharlene A. Wolchik was supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD094334-01)." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2019-06342-001.) Parenting time, interparental conflict, and the quality of parenting a child experiences in the postdivorce family environment have complex relations with child adjustment outcomes. Using person-centered latent profile analyses, the present study examined (a) separate profiles of mothers' (N = 472) and fathers' (N = 353) parenting time, interparental conflict, and quality of parenting following divorce; and (b) associations of mother and father profiles with concurrent child outcomes (48% female, 3- to 18-years-old) as well as child outcomes 3 and 10 months later. Mother and father profiles were primarily differentiated by levels of parenting time and quality of parenting, respectively. Mother and father profiles defined by greater parenting time and lower quality parenting were associated with the poorest child outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Latent profiles of postdivorce parenting time, conflict, and quality: Children's adjustment associations.

Parenting time, interparental conflict, and the quality of parenting a child experiences in the postdivorce family environment have complex relations with child adjustment outcomes. Using person-centered latent profile analyses, the present study examined (a) separate profiles of mothers' (N = 472) and fathers' (N = 353) parenting time, interparental conflict, and quality of parenting following divorce; and (b) associations of mother and father profiles with concurrent child outcomes (48% female, 3- to 18-years-old) as well as child outcomes 3 and 10 months later. Mother and father profiles were primarily differentiated by levels of parenting time and quality of parenting, respectively. Mother and father profiles defined by greater parenting time and lower quality parenting were associated with the poorest child outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Coordinación de coparentalidad cuando los niños y niñas se resisten o rechazan el contacto con uno de sus progenitores.

Recent studies on post-divorce parenting skills indicate that sensitivity is one of the significant ingredients for the development of a healthy relationship between parent and child. This sensitivity is based on the ability of the parent to consider the emotional states of their children in a reflective and non-defensive way. However, parents with an untreated mental illness may lose this sensitivity, as a result of their own worries and their need for well-being. Personality disorders are often manifested in parenting coordination. They present as a persistent pattern of internal experience and behavior that departs sharply from the expectations of the subject’s culture, a generalized and inflexible phenomenon, which is persistent over time and leads to anguish and the deterioration of interpersonal relationships. The parenting coordinator must be alert to the type of incident and its treatment in order to ensure the protection of the child.

Family Law and the New Access to Justice

Civil litigation reform has so consistently and predictably benefited a certain set of defendants, at the expense of a certain set of plaintiffs, that it has understandably come to be assumed antithetical to access-to-justice values. The view, however, looks different in family court, where reformers are implementing transformative changes that are consistent with access-to- justice values: these reforms are delivering dispute-resolution mechanisms that are faster, cheaper, and easier to maneuver, particularly for self- represented litigants. This Article explores whether the optimistic prospect suggested by this experience—of reform that promotes rather than inhibits access-to-justice values—is inherently limited to family law. Does the experience with family court reform offer insights that transfer to other contexts, or is family law simply too exceptional? On the one hand, family law disputes are unique in some truly important ways. It is difficult, for example, to conceive of a convincing analogue for postdivorce parenting, and what we mean by “justice” can be fundamentally different for domestic-relations litigants than for others. On the other hand, reform in family court has been driven in part by concerns about cost and speed that are hardly unique to domestic-relations litigants. This Article suggests that some features of family court reform may transfer to other contexts. Chief among these features is an emphasis on triage rather than standardization as the touchstone of a fair and effective specialized court. This Article first sets out the view from family court, describing the reforms that are taking root and arguing that they serve access-to-justice values. It then assesses whether the core attributes of family law make the field too exceptional for these reforms to have any transferable application to other contexts. Having established that domestic-relations litigants and the institutions that serve them are concerned about reducing cost and increasing speed, this Article observes that these objectives no doubt transfer to other contexts, and so it is worth focusing on some of the essential qualities that family court reformers have used to balance efficiency and individualized justice.

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.

Becoming a half-time parent: Fatherhood after divorce

ABSTRACTMen have increasingly been dedicating time and effort to childcare. Consequently, the idea of the ‘new’ emotionally involved father has been discussed in the literature. This article focuses on narratives of divorced Swedish fathers with joint physical custody of their children. This arrangement, a new model of post-divorce parenting, has become increasingly popular in several Nordic countries. The article aims to analyse the experiences attached to and emanating from this particular form of post-divorce agreement, and how it is understood in relation to the Swedish childcare system. The fathers interviewed had a strong ambition to share things equally, as well as to carry on family practices in gender-equal ways. This desire was, however, balanced with a number of obstacles, such as work requirements, living conditions and conceptions of gender differences. In this way, the fathers’ subjective aspirations and strivings were filtered through structural and cultural conditions in society, with clear connections to Swedish family and gender politics.

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 Phenomenological Study of Postdivorce Adjustment in Midlife

Today, 50% of all U.S. marriages are expected to end in divorce, with the majority of the divorces being granted to individuals between the ages of 45 and 54. Gaining an understanding of the lived experience of postdivorce adjustment as seen in midlife was the aim of this study. A phenomenological research design was used. The themes that emerged from the data included time, emotional pain, changes in postdivorce parenting, and a sense of starting over. The clinical implications of this study suggest that obtaining an understanding of the postdivorce adjustment experience might help mental health practitioners enhance care for divorced individuals, divorcing couples, and their family members.

The social life of divorced parents. Do custody arrangements make a difference in divorced parents’ social participation and contacts?

Social life is fostered by having a partner and children that create interactions and generate new social networks. For divorced parents, the question is whether these positive relationships remain after marital dissolution. Do children form an additional barrier to social interaction, or do new partners present a means to reconstruct divorcees’ social life? In this case, it is important to consider custody arrangements. The research question is how custody arrangements affect divorced parents’ possibilities to participate in outdoor home leisure activities and to maintain their social contacts. Focus is placed on the recent post-divorce parenting model of joint physical custody, taking Belgium as a pioneer case study. Multi-level regressions are conducted, using multi-actor data from the Divorce in Flanders survey (N = 1506 divorced parents). Results show that joint physical custody helps divorced parents to stay socially integrated. Especially for mothers, joint physical custody has a liberating effect. They engage in more outdoor home activities and better maintain their social networks than sole custody mothers. In this way, the positive effects of social interaction can counterbalance other detrimental effects of divorce and contribute to a higher level of their general well-being. While joint custody for fathers means they may spend more time with their children, their engagement in personal leisure activities and social networks is not altered by this custody arrangement.

Latent Consensus in Public Debate: Media Discussion of Fathers' Rights in the UK

In this paper, I investigate media debate on an issue of social concern in the UK: divorced fathers' relationships with their children. Working from 3 media texts that form part of the debate, I use qualitative content analysis and systemic functional analysis to elucidate stances taken by speakers as they characterize social actors in situations of postdivorce parenting. I argue that beneath the apparently adversarial positions expressed, there exist consensual discourse models that are not made available for questioning. These latent discourse models tend to foment ideological closure, and to stifle voices attempting to reframe the debate. Such closure is unhelpful to an understanding of the complexities of modern family life, and may itself contribute to the social problems debated.

DO PARENT EDUCATION PROGRAMS PROMOTE HEALTHY POSTDIVORCE PARENTING? CRITICAL DISTINCTIONS AND A REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE

Most parent education programs are designed to improve child well-being following divorce by changing some aspect of parenting. However, there has been relatively little discussion of what aspects of parenting are most critical and the effectiveness of programs to change different aspects of parenting. This paper addresses these issues by: 1. Distinguishing three aspects of post-divorce parenting that have been targeted in parent education programs; 2. Reviewing evidence of the relations between each aspect of parenting and the well-being of children and; 3. Critically reviewing evidence that parent education programs have been successful in changing each aspect of post-divorce parenting.

Parenting in Post-Divorce Estonian Families: A Qualitative Study

Estonia is a society characterised by persistence of traditional gender role attitudes. Accordingly, taking care of children is considered to be mainly mother's task and children's living arrangements following divorce are usually solved in the most traditional way - children stay with their mother. Based on qualitative interviews with divorced mothers the study focused on the attitudes of mothers towards fathers’ involvement in parenting following divorce. It was possible to differentiate between three post-divorce parenting patterns: (1) cooperative parenting with nonresident father involved with his children, (2) distant parenting characterized by loose contacts between children and nonresident father, and (3) sole parenting without any paternal involvement or financial support. The interviewees basically agreed that shared parental responsibilities would be the ideal form of post-divorce parenting but in practice their expectations concerning father's involvement were rather modest. The interviewees mostly approved prevailing in Estonia normative gendered parental role obligations with mother as the primary parent who had to take main responsibility for children both in the marriage as well as in the post-divorce period.

Chat-Room Voices of Divorced Non-Residential Fathers

This study uses postings by divorced fathers to an unmoderated Internet chat room to sound and analyze their voices. The findings show that the posters expressed an acute sense of powerlessness with respect to their status as non-residential fathers, the imposition of child support, the mothers of their children, the family courts, and lawyers and helping professionals. Although most of their grievances have already been reported in the literature on non-custodial post-divorce parenting, the anonymous postings allow us to hear an intensity of feeling that comes through much more faintly in studies based on interviews or focus groups. Since the posters seem to be a particularly aggrieved and angry group of men who are unlikely to seek professional counseling, the authors suggest professional intervention via the Internet. The challenges that chat room data poses to research are noted.

Relationship Components and Nature of Postdivorce Parenting Responsibilities Among Individuals Going Through a Divorce

ABSTRACT The relationship components and nature of postdivorce parenting responsibilities were examined among individuals going through different levels of conflict as measured by level of court involvement during their divorce and 6 months later. A modification of the Binuclear Family Research Project Questionnaire was employed to examine communication, interaction, anger, guilt, positive feelings, and attitude toward former spouse as a parent for 110 parents of children under the age of 18 going through a divorce or dissolution. Participants were classified into 1 of 4 groups based on level of court involvement: dissolution, divorce with low conflict, divorce with moderate conflict, and divorce with high conflict. Results suggested that individuals going through dissolutions have better communication, more interaction, and a more positive attitude toward their former spouse than individuals going through high-conflict divorces. Suggestions are offered for addressing postdivorce conflict and future research.

Parenting Coordinator Roles, Program Goals and Services Provided: Insights from the Pima County, Arizona Program

ABSTRACT Parenting coordinator (PC) programs have gained popularity in domestic relations courts across the country. These programs were designed to be an efficient, less costly, less formal and a less time-consuming way to resolve post-divorce parenting conflicts than scheduling court hearings to resolve day-to-day disputes regarding co-parenting and inter-parental conflict. Regrettably little empirical research has investigated any aspect of the programs and services. To begin understanding the services that are being delivered to families and the professionals that are delivering the services, an exploratory study was conducted of a new PC program. Explored were the PCs' general understanding of the goals of the PC program and what the PCs saw as their role in assisting families. Because this program was implemented by people from several professions, the variability between professions in the interventions provided was also explored. Finally, the legal basis for the program was examined to understand if the PCs' views of the program matched that of the legal basis for the program.

Similarities and Differences in the Experiences of Non-Resident Mothers and Non-Resident Fathers

This article reviews the available literature to give an overview of what is currently known about the situations and experiences of mothers who become the non-resident parent post-separation/divorce. Comparisons are made with non-resident father literature where possible in order to explore the similarities and differences in women and men's experience of parenthood across households. The principal question explored is: to what extent do the experiences of non-resident parents relate primarily to gender, or to their status (as non-resident parent), or a combination of the two? Findings indicate that there are many similarities in women and men's experience regarding the difficulties they each encounter when parenting at a distance. However, dominant cultural norms, which indicate that mothers should be co-resident with children, make the experience of non-resident motherhood a different psychosocial phenomenon from non-resident fatherhood. It is argued that more information is needed regarding the distinct experiences of both mothers and fathers if there is to be a more comprehensive understanding of non-residential parenting. Also, the steady rise in the number of non-resident mothers suggests a need for further investigation of parental role-reversal post-divorce parenting arrangements. Specifically how this type of arrangement impacts upon child welfare and whether this type of post-divorce parenting arrangement is acceptable to men and women as individuals and also to society in general.

Shared Parental Responsibility

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, our aim is to provide a selective overview and analysis of divorce research in the past five year period (2000-2005), during which important new data on children, families, and divorce have appeared. Much of this data challenges current socio-legal policy and “practice wisdom,” and includes: (1) the emergent perspective of adult children of divorce reflecting upon their experiences and preferences growing up as children of divorce; (2) studies comparing child and family outcomes in joint and sole custody families; and (3) new data on the distribution of child care tasks and responsibilities in families. These data support an approach to postdivorce parenting based on reducing the harms attendant to divorce for children and parents, parental equality, and family autonomy as most in keeping with children's needs and the principle of “the best interests of the child, from the perspective of the child,” which, it is argued, provides a more child-focused standard for child custody determination than current approaches. Second, building on this research foundation, we propose a new model of post-divorce parenting: a “shared parental responsibility” framework, in which parental responsibilities precede custodial rights, and children's “best interests” are addressed by means of identifying both their needs and parental and societal responsibilities corresponding to these needs.