The New Beginnings Program for Divorcing and Separating Families: Moving from Efficacy to Effectiveness.

This article describes a program of research on effectively transporting the New Beginnings Program (NBP), a university-tested prevention program for divorced families, to community settings. The status of four steps in this research are described: (1) Selecting a community partner; (2) Developing effective methods of engaging parents; (3) Redesigning the NBP to be easily delivered with high quality and fidelity in community agencies, and (4) Adapting the NBP to meet the needs of the full population of divorcing families. The article concludes with a discussion of plans for an effectiveness trial to evaluate the NBP when delivered in community settings.

An experimental evaluation of theory-based mother and mother-child programs for children of divorce.

This study evaluated the efficacy of 2 theory-based preventive interventions for divorced families: a program for mothers and a dual component mother-child program. The mother program targeted mother-child relationship quality, discipline, interparental conflict, and the father-child relationship. The child program targeted active coping, avoidant coping, appraisals of divorce stressors, and mother-child relationship quality. Families with a 9- to 12-year-old child (N = 240) were randomly assigned to the mother, dual-component, or self-study program. Postintervention comparisons showed significant positive program effects of the mother program versus self-study condition on relationship quality, discipline, attitude toward father-child contact, and adjustment problems. For several outcomes, more positive effects occurred in families with poorer initial functioning. Program effects on externalizing problems were maintained at 6-month follow-up. A few additive effects of the dual-component program occurred for the putative mediators; none occurred for adjustment problems.

Coping efficacy and psychological problems of children of divorce.

Three models of the relations of coping efficacy, coping, and psychological problems of children of divorce were investigated. A structural equation model using cross-sectional data of 356 nine- to twelve-year-old children of divorce yielded results that supported coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between both active coping and avoiding coping and psychological problems. In a prospective longitudinal model with a subsample of 162 of these children, support was found for Time 2 coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between Time 1 active coping and Time 2 internalizing of problems. Individual growth curve models over four waves also found support for coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between active coping and psychological problems. No support was found for alternative models of coping as a mediator of the relations between efficacy and symptoms or for coping efficacy as a moderator of the relations between coping and symptoms.

Coping and negative appraisal as mediators between control beliefs and psychological symptoms in children of divorce.

Examined control beliefs of children of divorce as predictors of their coping, negative appraisals for stressful events, and mental health problems. We tested whether coping and negative appraisal for stressful events mediated the relations between multiple dimensions of control beliefs and mental health problems. Different dimensions of control beliefs were related to different aspects of coping and negative stress appraisal. Internal control beliefs for positive events were related to both active and avoidant coping. Unknown control beliefs for positive events were related to higher active coping and higher negative appraisal. Unknown control beliefs for negative events were related to higher avoidant coping. In addition, evidence for mediation was found such that the effect of unknown control beliefs for positive events on mental health problems was mediated by negative appraisal. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

The additive and interactive effects of parenting and temperament in predicting adjustment problems of children of divorce.

Investigated the interaction between parenting and temperament in predicting adjustment problems in children of divorce. The study utilized a sample of 231 mothers and children, 9 to 12 years old, who had experienced divorce within the previous 2 years. Both mothers' and children's reports on parenting, temperament, and adjustment variables were obtained and combined to create cross-reporter measures of the variables. Parenting and temperament were directly and independently related to outcomes consistent with an additive model of their effects. Significant interactions indicated that parental rejection was more strongly related to adjustment problems for children low in positive emotionality, and inconsistent discipline was more strongly related to adjustment problems for children high in impulsivity. These findings suggest that children who are high in impulsivity may be at greater risk for developing problems, whereas positive emotionality may operate as a protective factor, decreasing the risk of adjustment problems in response to negative parenting.

Maternal acceptance and consistency of discipline as buffers of divorce stressors on children's psychological adjustment problems.

This study examines whether two aspects of mothering--acceptance and consistency of discipline--buffer the effect of divorce stressors on adjustment problems in 678 children, ages 8 to 15, whose families had divorced within the past 2 years. Children reported on divorce stressors; both mothers and children reported on mothering and internalizing and externalizing problems. Multiple regressions indicate that for maternal report of mothering, acceptance interacted with divorce stressors in predicting both dimensions of adjustment problems, with the pattern of findings supporting a stress-buffering effect. For child report of mothering, acceptance, consistency of discipline, and divorce stressors interacted in predicting adjustment problems. The relation between divorce stressors and internalizing and externalizing problems is stronger for children who report low acceptance and low consistency of discipline than for children who report either low acceptance and high consistency of discipline or high acceptance and low consistency of discipline. Children reporting high acceptance and high consistency of discipline have the lowest levels of adjustment problems. Implications of these results for understanding variability in children's postdivorce adjustment and interventions for divorced families are discussed.

Stressful life events, psychological distress, coping, and parenting of divorced mothers: a longitudinal study.

This was a prospective longitudinal study of the relationships among life stress, psychological distress, coping, and parenting behaviors in a sample of divorced custodial mothers. First, the differential effects of major events and daily stressors on psychological distress and parenting were explored. Second, the mediational links among stress, distress, and 3 dimensions of parenting behaviors were studied. Third, 3 coping strategies were studied as moderators of the relationship between distress and parenting. The results showed that both major and small events had significant effects on parental distress, with the effects of daily negative events being greater than those of major events. Parental distress mediated the relationships between stressful life events and parental acceptance of their children's behaviors. Parental coping strategies moderated the relationship between mothers' psychological distress and mothers' discipline practice.

Cognitive moderators of children's adjustment to stressful divorce events: the role of negative cognitive errors and positive illusions.

This study examined whether children's cognitive appraisal biases moderate the impact of stressful divorce-related events on psychological adjustment in 355 children ages 9 to 12, whose families had experienced divorce within the past 2 years. Multiple regression indicated that endorsement of negative cognitive errors for hypothetical divorce events moderates the relations between stressful divorce events and self- and maternal reports of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, but only for older children. Positive illusions buffer the effects of stressful divorce events on child-reported depression and mother-reported externalizing problems. Implications of these results for theories of stress and coping, as well as for interventions for children of divorced families, are discussed.

Emotionality and self-regulation, threat appraisal, and coping in children of divorce.

A model of the effects of children's temperament (negative and positive emotionality, impulsivity and attention focusing) on post-divorce threat appraisals, coping (active and avoidant), and psychological symptoms (depression and conduct problems) was investigated. The study utilized a sample of 223 mothers and children (ages 9 to 12 years) who had experienced divorce within the last two years. Evidence was found of direct effects of child-report negative emotionality on children's threat perceptions and of child-report positive emotionality and impulsivity on children's coping. Indirect effects of negative emotionality on active and avoidant coping through threat appraisal were found. Direct effects of the temperament variables on symptoms were also found. Cross group analyses indicated that the models were robust to age differences, but gender differences were found in the relation between negative emotionality and depression. The results of this study indicate that temperament and threat appraisals are important predictors of children's post-divorce symptoms, and that temperament is a predictor of children's appraisal and coping process.

Stress and coping as predictors of children's divorce-related ruminations.

Examined stress and coping variables as predictors of divorce-related ruminations in children whose parents had recently divorced. Simultaneous multiple regression was used to analyze the cross-sectional data of 351 children of divorce. Divorce-related stressful events and threat appraisal were positively related to children's ruminations. A prospective longitudinal design was employed to predict rumination at Time 2 (T2) controlling for Time 1 (T1) rumination. Efficacy of coping was negatively related to T2 rumination after controlling for T1 rumination and all other predictors. This study also provided descriptive data on the frequency of children's divorce-related ruminations.

Temperament as a predictor of symptomatology in children: addressing contamination of measures.

Temperament has been conceptualized as an important predictor of children's psychological adjustment. However, even with reliable and valid measures, there is the additional problem of overlapping item content across measures of temperament and symptoms that threatens the interpretability of such associations. This study assessed this possible confounding using both confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and expert ratings. A number of items from temperament measures of negative and positive emotionality, impulsivity, and attention focusing were shown to overlap with items measuring depressive and conduct problem symptoms. CFAs demonstrated that temperament could be reliably measured after eliminating overlapping items. Negative emotionality and impulsivity showed a positive relation to symptom measures, whereas positive emotionality and attention showed a negative relation to symptom measures. The pattern of associations indicated consistent relations between negative emotionality and depression and between impulsivity and conduct problems. The results show that even after removal of the threat to validity presented by overlap in measures, there continue to be significant, interpretable relations between temperament and symptoms.

Locus of control as a stress moderator and mediator in children of divorce.

This paper examined the stress moderator and mediator effects of four dimensions of perceived control in children of divorce. The dimensions of locus of control included internal control for positive events, internal control for negative events, unknown control for positive events, and unknown control for negative events. The sample consisted of 222 children between the ages of 8 and 12 whose parents had divorced in the previous 2 years. Moderational analyses showed that unknown control for positive events interacted with negative events to predict total symptoms. Plots of the simple slopes indicated a stress buffering effect whereby the slope of negative events on symptoms was higher for high than for low levels of unknown control for positive events. Mediational analysis showed that the relations between negative events and symptoms were mediated by both unknown control for positive events and unknown control for negative events. In contrast, evidence was not found for either a stress mediational or a moderational model for perceived internal control for positive or negative events. These results suggest that unknown control beliefs may be a particularly important dimension of control for children of divorce.

Alcohol abuse and psychopathic deviance in noncustodial parents as predictors of child-support payment and visitation.

In a three-stage study, noncustodial parents' psychopathic deviance and alcohol use accounted for significant variance in custodial parents' reports of child support and visitation. In noncustodial parents 'reports' compliance with child support, but not frequency of visitation, was related to measures of deviance. Implications for policy, research, and psychoeducational interventions are discussed.

A dispositional and situational assessment of children's coping: testing alternative models of coping.

Dispositional and situational measures of children's coping were developed using a theoretically based approach. Two studies (N1 = 217; N2 = 303) assessed the psychometric characteristics of these measures in fourth- through sixth-grade children. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a four-factor model of dispositional coping (active, distraction, avoidant, and support seeking) provided a better fit to the data than either the problem- versus emotion-focused (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) or passive versus active (Billings & Moos, 1981) coping models. The four-factor model was largely invariant with respect to age and gender. Moderate to high correlations were found between the parallel subscales of the dispositional and situational measures of coping. Although the four factor structures of the dispositional and situational measures were generally similar, factor loadings and correlations between dimensions were not equivalent.

Self-regulation as a moderator of the relation between coping and symptomatology in children of divorce.

Investigated the effects of self-regulation as a moderator of the relations between coping efforts and psychological symptoms of children of divorce. The interactions of two dimensions of self-regulation (task orientation and approach-flexibility) and two dimensions of coping (active and avoidant) predicting children's postdivorce symptoms were tested using a sample of 199 divorced mothers and their children, ages 8 to 12. The approach-flexibility dimension moderated the relations of both active and avoidant coping with children's self-report of anxiety. At higher levels of approach-flexibility, active coping was negatively related to anxiety, while at lower levels of approach-flexibility, active coping was unrelated to anxiety. Avoidant coping was unrelated to anxiety at higher levels of approach-flexibility, whereas at lower levels of approach-flexibility, avoidant coping was positively related to anxiety. The task orientation dimension did not interact with coping, but had direct, independent effects on children's self-report of conduct problems, depression, and parent-report of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The implications for understanding children's coping with divorce and future directions for research are discussed.

Evaluation of a preventive intervention for a self-selected subpopulation of children.

Evaluated an experimental preventive intervention developed for children who perceived their parents as problem drinkers. The 8-session program was designed to improve children's coping, self-esteem, and social competence, and modify alcohol expectancies which were specified as mediators of the effects of parental alcohol abuse on child mental health. Participants were 271 self-selected 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade students in 13 schools. The children were randomly assigned to treatment or delayed treatment conditions and the program was given to three successive cohorts of students. A meta-analysis across three different cohorts indicated significant program effects to improve knowledge of the program content and the use of support- and emotion-focused coping behaviors for the full sample. A slightly stronger range of effects was found for a high-risk subsample.

Coping, stress, and the psychological symptoms of children of divorce: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.

The authors conducted a cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal study of stress, coping, and psychological symptoms in children of divorce. The sample consisted of 258 children (mean age = 10.1; SD = 1.2), of whom 196 were successfully followed 5.5 months later. A 4-dimensional model of coping was found using confirmatory factor analysis, with the factors being active coping, avoidance, distraction, and support. In the cross-sectional model avoidance coping partially mediated the relations between negative events and symptoms while active coping moderated the relations between negative events and conduct problems. In the longitudinal model significant negative paths were found from active coping and distraction Time 1 to internalizing symptoms Time 2, while Time 1 support coping had a positive path coefficient to Time 2 depression. Positive paths were found between negative events at Time 1 and anxiety at Time 2, and between all symptoms at Time 1 and negative events at Time 2.

Social competence and coping among children of divorce.

Relationships between teacher-rated social competence and teacher and self-reports of children's coping behavior were examined in 177 school-age children of divorce. Social competence was positively associated with teacher reports of active coping, and with self-reported avoidance coping. Children showing a positive competence-avoidance relationship reported high levels of depressive symptoms. Implications for school-based interventions and for future research are discussed.

The children of divorce parenting intervention: outcome evaluation of an empirically based program.

Examined efficacy of an empirically based intervention using 70 divorced mothers who participated in a 12-session program or a wait-list condition. The program targeted five putative mediators: quality of the mother-child relationship, discipline, negative divorce events, contact with fathers, and support from nonparental adults. Posttest comparisons showed higher quality mother-child relationships and discipline, fewer negative divorce events, and better mental health outcomes for program participants than controls. More positive program effects occurred for mothers' than children's reports of variables and for families with poorest initial levels of functioning. Analyses indicated that improvement in the mother-child relationship partially mediated the effects of the program on mental health.

Negative cognitive errors and positive illusions for negative divorce events: predictors of children's psychological adjustment.

This study examined the relations among negative cognitive errors regarding hypothetical negative divorce events, positive illusions about those same events, actual divorce events, and psychological adjustment in 38 8- to 12-year-old children whose parents had divorced within the previous 2 years. Children's scores on a scale of negative cognitive errors (catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, and personalizing) correlated significantly with self-reported symptoms of anxiety and self-esteem, and with maternal reports of behavior problems. Children's scores on a scale measuring positive illusions (high self-regard, illusion of personal control, and optimism for the future) correlated significantly with less self-reported aggression. Both appraisal types accounted for variance in some measures of symptomatology beyond that explained by actual events. There was no significant association between children's negative cognitive errors and positive illusions. The implications of these results for theories of negative cognitive errors and of positive illusions, as well as for future research, are discussed.