Use of Educational Materials to Modify Stressful Behaviors in Post-Divorce Parenting

Abstract

A 32-page educational booklet was mailed to half of all parents filing for divorce in one urban domestic relations court over a If-week period. A total of 358 primarily lower-middle class intervention and wait-list control parents were interviewed by telephone approximately three months post-filing. Mothers in the treatment group reported greater reduction of loyalty conflict behaviors and increased encouragement of child-fathcr involvement. No differences were obscrved between intervention and control for either mothers' willingness to share responsibility or in rate of conveyance to children of interparental conflict and personal distress. No differenccs were observed for father behaviors. Children exhibiting greater internalizing and externalizing behaviors on the Child Bchavior Checklist (Parents) had mothers who reported experiencing greater interpersonal conflict and personal distress, and more often spoke of their difficulties to their children. A one-year follow-up revealed that intervention parents were morc likely to communicate positively with their children about their other parent, and that nonresidential parents had greater access to their children than parents in the control conditions. The implications for this change in reducing stress in children of divorce are discussed.

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