Children of Divorce: Can We Meet Their Needs?

The high incidence of divorce, coupled with its profound consequences, suggest that the psychological needs of the children involved, the degree to which these needs are being met, and the measures that might be taken to better meet them must be explored. This paper outlines some of the service needs of children of divorce, examines existing systems for the delivery of services, and assesses the extent to which the systems are meeting those needs. It concludes that existing services are essentially inadequate and describes the major characteristics of a model program designed to deal appropriately with the specific needs of children of divorce. Research to develop and evaluate services and programs is urged.     

Parental Reports of Children's Post-Divorce Adjustment

Two years after the final decree, 560 divorced parents, fathers as well as mothers, were asked to assess the impact of the divorce on their children. Their responses to this question—as well as to other questions—seemed to divide into a "his" and "hers" perspective. Other variables having to do with the parents and their children, the marriage, the divorce and the changes necessitated by the divorce were analyzed in relation to these parental assessments. Factors associated with fathers' responses differed from those associated with mothers', but the majority of each group felt that their children had been negatively affected by the divorce.     

Play and Social Interaction in Children Following Divorce

This paper presents the results of a longitudinal study of the effects of divorce on play and social interaction in children. Forty-eight middle class white preschool children from divorced families and a matched group of forty-eight non divorced families were studied at 2 months, 1 year and 2 years after divorce. In the first year following divorce disruptions were found in both play and social relations for boys and girls from divorced families. The adverse effects had largely disappeared for girls by two years after divorce; however, the effects were more intense and enduring for boys. The play patterns of children from divorced families, in comparison to those of children in non divorced families, were less socially and cognitively mature when measured shortly after divorce. Limitations and rigidity in fantasy play were particularly notable. In the year following divorce both boys and girls showed high rates of dependent helpseeking behavior and acting out, non-compliant behavior. This again was more enduring in boys than girls. Even when the behavior of boys from divorced families had improved they were viewed and responded to more negatively by peers and teachers than were children from non divorced families or girls from divorced families.     

Threads across the world: sewing resilience into the fabric of children’s lives

Strengthening the ecological resilience factors in the lives of children that have been abused can help them to navigate the healing process. It is through group work that children can share their “resilience wisdom” with one another as a healing community. There is a dearth of research on cross-cultural resilience programs for children who have been abused. This article explores a group work program that was conducted for one year in Bolivia and Australia. The results from each group reveal the similarities and the differences in outcomes between children from different cultural backgrounds that participated in a resilience group work program.     

The Helpfulness of Holistic Arts–Based Group Work with Children Living in Foster Care

This article discusses practice-based research that is exploring the helpfulness of holistic arts–based group work for the development of self-awareness and self-esteem in children living in foster care. The group program is arts based and encourages children to explore their beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. Examples of group exercises are provided, challenges in developing this group program are discussed, and qualitative research findings are presented, which are based on the analysis of fifteen 6-week groups. Findings indicate that children learned new skills, improved coping abilities, connected with feelings, and felt more positive. Practitioners are encouraged to consider how arts-based group work can help children in care.     

Predicting the recipients of social work support,and its impact on emotional and behavioural problems in early childhood

This paper examines the recipients of social work support in the Millennium Cohort Study. Using panel analysis and fixed effects models, it investigates the factors that lead to the receipt of any type of social work support for individuals with young children and the effects of this support on changes in the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in these children. We find that divorce or separation, and episodes of homelessness are two important factors that lead to the receipt of social work support. Mothers with male children are also more likely to receive social work support. However, we find no clear evidence that social work support has any effect on changes in children's emotional and behavioural problems over time. The implications of these findings for social work research and for practice and policy are discussed.     

Family resources as mediators in the relation between divorce and children's school engagement

Children are increasingly growing up in non-intact families. Because the family is a vital developmental part of growing-up, parental divorce can have far-reaching effects on children. This article investigates whether divorce interferes with children's engagement in school. According to the deprivation perspective, the effect of a parental divorce on children is mediated through the availability of family resources. Structural equation models are performed on the Leuven's Adolescent and Family Study. We conclude that the parental divorce effect on school engagement is mediated by the parent-child relationship, parental conflict, and financial problems at home.     

Post-Divorce Family Relationships as Mediating Factors in the Consequences of Divorce for Children

In this study, the psychological structure of the family after divorce is seen as mediating the impact of divorce upon children. Divorce affects primary bonds with parents, presents challenges to conceptions of social reality, and creates stress which interferes with normal development. The effects of divorce upon child behavior (peer relations, stress, aggression, work effectiveness at school) were examined through two contrasting research strategies: 1) a comparison of the behavior of children in divorced and intact families, and 2) analysis of the association between family processes and child outcomes in intact and divorced families. Family processes examined were: (a) the affective relationships between the father and mother, (b) the affective relationships between the child and each parent separately, and (c) for divorced families, the amount of contact between child and non-custodial parent. For divorced and intact groups combined, the relationships among family members appeared to be more potent influences on child behavior than was marital status. The negative effects of divorce were greatly mitigated when positive relationships with both parents were maintained. The child's relationship with the non-custodial parent (father) was as important as the continuing relationship with the mother. Implications for research and for public policy are discussed.     

Marital History and Intergenerational Solidarity: The Impact of Divorce and Unmarried Cohabitation

Among the more recent challenges for the family are the increasing divorce rates and the decline in marriages. This article examines the possible consequences of these trends for intergenerational family relationships. How does divorce in the parent generation, and the shift from marriage to unmarried cohabitation among adult children, affect intergenerational solidarity? These questions are explored with data from the Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation Study (NorLAG, n = 5,589, age 40–79). Scandinavian countries have high divorce and cohabitation rates and may therefore be of interest as comparative cases for countries where these events are less institutionalized. The findings suggest, however, that Norway accommodates to the general norm in the sense that divorce among parents is associated with lower solidarity with adult children on most solidarity dimensions. This is more true for fathers than for mothers. There is, on the other hand, no difference in solidarity between married and cohabitating children vis à vis the parent generation. The explanations and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Divorced mothers' self‐perception of their divorce‐related communication with their children

This is a qualitative study of divorce‐related communication between mothers and children, as recounted by 20 Jewish Israeli mothers. We adopt the communication privacy management theory, focusing on mothers' subjective experiences of communication, their management of dialectic tension between concealment and disclosure – namely, not only what mothers choose to disclose to and hide from their children, but also the feelings, concerns and perceptions that drove their communication. The mothers' reports convey the challenges and dilemmas they faced when communicating with their children about their divorce and its repercussions; the main one being their obligation to maintain a good father image and their wish to preserve a strong maternal figure. The ‘child's well‐being’ was the dominant criterion in the mothers' decision to reveal or conceal divorce‐related information. Clinical suggestions are made.     

Facilitating Arts-Based Mindfulness Group Activities with Vulnerable Children: An Example of Nondeliberative Social Group Work Practice

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the process of facilitating arts-based mindfulness group work and activities with vulnerable children age 8 to 12 years who were involved with the child welfare or mental health systems. Specifically, it delineates connections between our group program and Norma Lang’s nondeliberative social group work practice. Importantly, in working with vulnerable children, the authors purposefully fostered the development of mutual aid, creativity, and strengths and recognized that each group had a life of its own.     

Mothering Mothers: An Exploration of the Perceptions of Adult Children of Divorce

It is clear that divorce shapes children's and adolescents lives in a variety of ways and that these are largely negative – they have worse physical and psychological health, they are less well‐off financially and have an increased likelihood of themselves divorcing. Aside from outcomes which are easily measurable, less is known about the ways in which divorce impacts on long‐term relationships ‐ particularly those between children and their parents. This exploratory paper looks at the relationships between divorced mothers and their adult children and finds that, like other studies, their relationships are marked by intimacy, but unlike other studies, this intimacy is neither enjoyed nor embraced. The participants report that their mothers were damaged by the separation, that their anger is ongoing many years afterwards. It is argued that these factors, amongst others, contribute to the ambivalent relationships some of the participants perceive they have with their mothers today and their uncertainty about caring for them in the future.     

Evaluating Group Work within a Summer Camp Intervention for Children and Adolescents with Asthma

Findings suggest that residential camps and group work within camps are highly valued by children and their parents. Children predominantly valued recreational and educational aspects of camp programming whereas parents emphasized appreciation for the safety that a condition-specific camp can offer a child with illness. Within the camp program, group work and peer support were integrally provided along with clinical monitoring and health teaching. A psychoeducational approach was implemented in which group participants engaged in sessions addressing self-care strategies and constructive ways to integrate childhood asthma in daily life. Participants identified the residential camp setting as a promising environment for group work among children and adolescents with asthma. Implications and recommendations are discussed.     

Conciliation: A New Approach to Family Conflict Resolution

Summary This article criticises the traditional ‘adversarial’approach to divorce and argues for new methods of conflict resolutionto reduce the destructive impact of divorce on the family asa whole, and to give higher priority to the needs of children.These methods need to be developed in conjunction with lawyers,so that conciliation can be integrated with legal proceedingsarising from separation and divorce. The article discusses therelevance of conciliation to different forms of marital breakdown,and attempts to define some of the main elements of the conciliationprocess.     

Socio-genealogical connectedness: on the role of gender and same-gender parenting in mitigating the effects of parental divorce

Guided by the idea of socio-genealogical connectedness (i.e. knowledge, and belief in, one's biological and social roots), the present study explored the relationship between a number of the characteristics of lone-parent families and the well-being of children in these families. Since it is well established that develop-mental difficulties do not emerge in all children of divorced/separated families, there is a need to understand those factors which mitigate against the adverse influences of divorce on children. Evidence suggests that socio-genealogical connectedness is one of the possible mitigating factors. However, the present study, which involved a variety of multivariate statistical techniques, indicates academic attainment to be the most important mitigating factor. This implies that children with greater intellectual resources to deal with problems are less vulnerable than others to the long-term effects of divorce and separation. Nonetheless, the results support the hypothesis derived from the concept of socio-genealogical connectedness; it was the second most important predictor.     

It Is Not Always Easy to Sit on Your Mouth

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the use of small groups in an after-school tutoring program for children, ages 5 to 12. Five group work principles are emphasized: (1) beginning where the group members are and drawing upon their interests; (2) enhancing mutual aid among group members; (3) taking the stages of group development into consideration when planning activities; (4) using the leader's role in ways that encourage and are helpful to group members; and (5) believing that members have something valuable to contribute to the group. Incorporation of group work principles into academic enrichment programs, rather than reliance solely on one-to-one tutoring, is urged.     

Children after Divorce: Whose Rights? Whose Responsibility?

Concern about the increasing welfare bill for supporting parents and the growing number of mothers and children living in poverty after divorce or separation has recently led Governments to seek new strategies to enforce maintenance payments. A major emphasis in these arguments has been that noncustodial parents (usually fathers) have a responsibility to provide economic support for their children, and that children, mothers and the community have a right to expect this support. At the same time, there has been an increased concern by fathers for their rights to custody and access to their children after divorce or separation. These two concerns, however, have tended to be treated as separate issues, and little attempt has been made to examine the possible interaction between the two, or to examine systematically the respective rights and responsibilities of mothers, fathers, children and the community. These issues are examined here in the context of an analysis of interpersonal rights and responsibilities for financial support and child care.     

Issues Related to the Use of Short-Term Groups for Adjustment to Divorce

Programs for divorce adjustment which utilize short-term groups provide a viable treatment intervention for meeting the needs of divorced clients. Through a comparison of such programs, this article identifies and discusses some of the issues and gaps in our present knowledge about the use of short-term groups for adjustment to divorce. Guidelines are provided for practitioners and agencies interested in developing divorce adjustment group programs or modifying existing ones.     

Broken Boundaries or Broken Marriages? Racial Intermarriage and Divorce in the United States

Objective: Several recent studies have investigated the consequences of racial intermarriage for marital stability. None of these studies properly control for first-order racial differences in divorce risk, therefore failing to appropriately identify the effect of intermarriage. Our article builds on an earlier generation of studies to develop a model that appropriately identifies the consequences of crossing racial boundaries in matrimony. Methods: We analyze the 1995 and 2002 National Survey of Family Growth using a parametric event-history model called a sickle model. To appropriately identify the effect of interracial marriage we use the interaction of wife's race and husband's race. Results: We find elevated divorce rates for Latino/white intermarriages but not for black/white intermarriages. Seventy-two percent of endogamous Latino marriages remain intact at 15 years, but only 58 percent of Latino husband/white wife and 64 percent of white husband/Latina wife marriages are still intact. Conclusions: We have identified an important deficiency in previous studies and provide a straightforward resolution. Although higher rates of Latino/white intermarriage may indicate more porous group boundaries, the greater instability of these marriages suggests that these boundaries remain resilient.