11/22/96
ATHENS, Ohio -- A new study by researchers at Ohio University suggests that divorcing parents who receive printed educational materials before the divorce is final may have a stronger relationship with their children than parents who never receive the information.
Researchers mailed a guide with suggestions for reducing the trauma of divorce on children to half of all parents filing for divorce in a Cleveland domestic relations court over a 12-week period. Follow-up interviews over the next year found that parents who received the information were less likely to encourage their children to choose one parent over another or speak negatively about each other in front of their children, which eases the emotional strain of divorce on children, said Don Gordon, professor of psychology at Ohio University and co-author of the study.
"Unresolved and open parental conflict can only provide an enduring burden for unempowered and vulnerable children," he said. "This evidence underscores the need to provide information and training to divorcing parents." The timing of the intervention -- before the divorce is final -- is important, Gordon said, because parents are more inclined to read the information then, and read it again when the pressure of divorce proceedings has diminished.
Gordon co-authored the study with Jack Arbuthnot, a professor of psychology, and Cindy Poole, a graduate student in psychology, both at Ohio University. The researchers used a 32-page booklet, "What About the Children: A Guide for Divorced and Divorcing Parents," that was written by Gordon and Arbuthnot. The guide addressed the harm of exposing children to parental conflict and influencing children to remain loyal to one parent over another. It also offered tips on step-parenting and single parenting.
"The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of educational intervention for divorcing parents. But making parents aware that kids find divorce painful doesn't change behavior," Gordon said. "You have to teach parents skills to change the way they interact with their children."
With half of all marriages in the United States today ending in divorce, some 1.5 million children a year see their parents divorce. Courts around the country have tried a variety of approaches to assist parents in making the divorce less traumatic for children. But the majority of these techniques, Gordon said, including individual therapy and short-term training programs for parents, don't work for many of the families who need help the most.
"Individual therapy is costly, making it inaccessible to lower income families," he said. "And parents in the midst of divorce often fail to notice their children's difficulties. Even when assistance is offered, parents who believe their children are adjusting well are reluctant to involve them in therapy."
More than 350 parents who received the booklets were interviewed about three months after filing for divorce. Those interviews, along with follow-up surveys conducted a year later, found that parents who received the booklet were more inclined to be supportive of their children. These parents spoke more positively about each other to their children, and encouraged children to spend equal time with both parents. This is important, Gordon noted, because children don't want to choose one parent over another.
There are several advantages to making this type of educational information available to divorcing parents through the mail, Gordon said. It's an effective and inexpensive way to reach a large number of people, parents can read the materials at their convenience, and then keep them for future reference.
"A serious impediment to interventions with divorcing families is to find ways to provide information and training which are both helpful and cost-effective," Gordon said. "Easily distributed and inexpensive written materials would be highly desirable for most courts since they are effective in changing at least some harmful parent behaviors."
The study was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Divorce & Remarriage.
Through the Center for Divorce Education in Athens, Ohio, Gordon and Arbuthnot have researched different ways to educate divorcing parents. In addition to the booklet, they have developed video-based educational materials, including a videotape, "Children in the Middle," which won the National Council For Children's Rights best parenting video award in 1992. The videotape examines ways to avoid problems common to children of divorce and is used by judges in more than 700 courts and agencies in all 50 states and eight foreign countries.
With a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Gordon has developed a 2.5-hour interactive CD-ROM program for parents with children who have behavior problems. Social service agencies and juvenile courts in 11 Southeastern Ohio counties are ordering or advising parents of delinquents to view the program, titled "Parenting Adolescents Wisely," which Gordon says is equivalent to 15 to 30 hours of therapy. The CD-ROM was selected as one of the top 10 model family programs for delinquency prevention at the "Strengthening America's Families" conference in Snowbird, Utah, in October.
Contact: Don Gordon, 614-593-1074, dgordon1@ohiou.edu Written by Dwight Woodward, 614-593-1886; dwoodward1@ohiou.edu