Rethinking utility in divorce education: Use of multi-program evaluation data to uncover markers of post-divorce adjustment

Abstract

For children in the United States, family instability following parental relationship dissolution is common and efforts to promote effective post-divorce co-parenting arrangements have grown substantially in recent decades. To help families navigate transitions through the divorce process, most states require divorcing parents to complete divorce education programming. In the present study we used pre-post data from three divorce education programs (n = 1026 parents) to explore programmatic effects on self-reported adjustment, intentions to co-parent, and likelihood to relitigate, and attempt to determine mechanisms that may account for or explain those programmatic effects. Overall, we found support that these programs are able to impact perceived adjustment and co-parenting intentions. Specifically, we documented small, but significant, increases in perceived adjustment and that post-program adjustment was associated with greater intentions to engage in supportive co-parenting with former spouses. Further, co-parenting intentions were shaped by how useful parents found the programs with greater perceived utility being associated with more positive co-parenting intentions. The relitigation outcomes, however, were not associated with post-program adjustment or perceived program utility. Instead, they were primarily associated with pre-program experiences such as the quality of co-parenting prior to the program and whether an order of protection was present between co-parents.