Divorce: A Risk and Resilience Perspective Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Discuss the different conclusions researchers have reached on the effects of divorce  Discuss the pro’s and con’s of having divorce laws that make it harder or easier to obtain a divorce  Explain the effects of multiple family structure transitions on adults and children  Identify the historical reasons for changes in divorce trends Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Family stress and family divider  Parental divorce  Parent outcomes  Child outcomes  Rates of divorce vary by race and ethnicity  Single parent homes, poverty  Feminization of poverty Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Family systems theory suggests that the family needs to be reviewed in its entirety  Dyads within family  To understand how kids affected by divorce have to know about relationship of parents, parent to child, etc.  Family systems alone not enough to explain divorce  Need to address risk-resilience perspective to address why some kids and parents are resilient through divorce, while others do not adapt as successfully  Risk-resiliency  Outcomes depend on interplay among risk and protective factors and mechanisms Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Rates increased steadily throughout 1900s  Divorce rose dramatically after World War II  Exception to rise: 1950s.  Instability of family increased in great depression and war = high value places on family, so lower divorce rate in 1950s  Post-war economic boom improved standard of living for middle class  Marriage and birthrates rose, divorce rates dropped Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 However, did not last  Inequalities in marriage and burdens placed on women  Cultural climate of 1960s and 1970s increased emphasis on individualism  Higher divorces based on marital satisfaction  Marriage not meeting personal needs  From late 1950s to 1980s singlehood, cohabitation, childlessness, and nonmarital sex became more acceptable  Economic opportunities for men declined.  Stagnate wages for white men, declining wages for African American men  More women entering workforce Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Rate stabilized at high level in early 1980’s  Decline in divorce rates among individuals with college degrees  Increase in cohabitation  Increased age at marriage Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Era of restricted divorce – Before 1858  Annulment, men only, desertion or adultery  Era of divorce tolerance to 1970  Drunkenness, mental cruelty, had to show cause  Era of Unrestricted Divorce – 1970s to present  No fault divorce Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Being African American  Living in West or South USA  Living in Urban area  Cohabiting premaritally  Having a child before marriage  Being young at time of marriage  Having less education  Having divorced parents  Being married a shorter amount of time  Being remarried  Being nonreligious  Living in community accepting of divorce  Dissatisfaction with relationship Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Pro’s  Can easily exit bad marriage  Don’t have to show fault  Easier to exit if abusive relationship  Con’s  Women and children tend to be hurt by no fault divorce  Higher overall divorce rates Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Some researchers argue children and adults have difficult adjustment period after divorce  Others find moderate or short-term effects  Emery (1999) concluded:  1)divorce is stressful for children  2)Divorce leads to higher levels of adjustment and mental health problems for kids  3)Most kids are resilient and adjust well to divorce over time  4)Children whose parents divorce report considerable pain, unhappy memories, and continued distress  5) Post-divorce family interactions greatly influence adjustment after divorce Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Feminization of poverty  Children  Work experience and access to time to work  Institutionalized sexism and wage discrimination in workplace  Lower earnings  Inadequacies of child support payments  Lack of affordable child care Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Differences in male and female adjustment  Those in new relationships adjust better psychologically and emotionally – especially men  Women more affected by residual hostility from past relationship and problematic relationship  Women tend to be more deeply committed to marriage, parenthood and family live because they devote more time and energy to these activities  Women worse off economically, makes it harder to bounce back  More social stigma attached to divorce for women Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Most children experience adjustment difficulties to divorce  1-2 years following divorce often most difficult  For most children and adolescents, adjustment is moderate  Differences in children’s psychological well- bring within family types tend to be greater in magnitude than those between family types Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Reduced involvement with nonresidential parent  Often infrequent.  Father’s involvement diminishes over time  Some say has little effect on child’s wellbeing  Change of residence  Often several times  Economic changes for children  Feminization of poverty + mother’s often get custody Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Educational Programs  Classes for parents who are divorcing  Encourage less conflict  Little research to show effectiveness  Children not often involved in these classes, although they are the primary target of such classes  Parents are more amenable to such interventions  Parents have more motivation and insight to benefit from such programs  Easier to require adults than children to attend classes. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Can be positive or negative  Domestic violence or power struggles not good for mediation  Can help to avoid time in court if both partners fair  Based on principle of cooperative negotiation  No short-term differences between mediation and more traditional adversarial approaches  Effective in some dimensions  Feeling understood, long term – non-residential parents had more contact with children  Men’s greater power places women at disadvantage in mediation Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Better and longer –lasting solutions achieved if spouses work together to maximize own personal gain.  Mediation has objective 3 rd party, but in collaboration, both retain their own lawyers. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 What changes could be implicated to reduce the feminization of poverty in divorce  Societal level changes  Legal changes  Community level changes  Individual level changes Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Divorce has almost become a normative experience  Divorce more widely accepted and less stigmatized today  Attention needs devoted to designing programs that better prepare and educate divorcing adults  Financial cooperation  Personal stress  transitions  Other challenges of post-divorce family forms Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications