"Collaborative divorce": Meaningful reform or another quick fix?

Comments on the article by P. H. Tesler (see record 2000-05399-009) which offered the concept of collaborative law as a part of therapeutic jurisprudence. Many of the negative consequences of divorce for women and children relate to poor substantive outcomes rather than to the process used to resolve the divorce dispute. Collaborative divorce focuses primarily on procedure, emotions, and relationship preservation almost to the exclusion of substantive concerns. Moreover, many of the factors that precipitate negative divorce results for women and children in traditional lawyer representation persist in collaborative divorce. Consequently, collaborative divorce likely does little to alleviate the postdivorce suffering of women and dependent children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical and professional considerations in divorce and child custody cases.

The provision of psychological (e.g., psychotherapy, coparenting, mediation, collaborative divorce, child custody evaluation) services for families of divorce are growing specialties for many clinical and forensic psychologists. However, practice in domestic relations psychology, such as divorce and custody assessment and testimony, is a high-risk venture for incurring ethics complaints and law suits. The lead article and the three commentaries that follow enumerate the various roles practitioners might play, clarify how each role requires specific skill sets that may be outside one’s particular competence and necessitate additional training, describe how countertransferential issues arise, urge meticulous record keeping, discuss some of the subtleties of confidentiality and the releasing of information, describe how transparency in clarifying expectations leads to a lowering of contentiousness, and provide tips for divorce and forensic practice. The special challenges associated with psychologists being tempted to move beyond their role on a case and those of particularly high-risk situations (e.g., complaints of child abuse or domestic violence) are also discussed. Suggestions are offered to help psychologists better serve the public while taking steps to better inoculate themselves from complaints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Defining a threshold for client competence to participate in divorce mediation.

The ultimate aim of court-ordered divorce mediation is to produce settlement agreements. Once ratified by the court, these agreements are legally binding and extremely difficult to modify. Courts assume that everyone is adequately equipped to mediate and, with increasing frequency, order litigants into mediation. Nonetheless, commentators have acknowledged that at least occasionally, a party may be unable to proceed. Currently, no standard exists for determining when a party lacks sufficient understanding and ability to participate in mediation, yet the legally binding outcomes of mediation are too important to leave a determination of competence up to chance. In this article, the authors propose a new legal standard, with a basis in current law and policy, for competence to participate in mediation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Divorce mediation.

Mediation is a growing alternative to the adversarial settlement of divorce disputes that is part of a broader movement toward the private ordering of divorce. Problems with the indeterminant "best interests" standard and evidence from psychological research make mediation particularly appealing for settling child-custody disputes. Although some encouraging evidence is available on diversion of disputes from courts and consumer satisfaction with mediation, there is a considerable need for further research. Moreover, a number of practical, legal, and ethical questions about mediation remain unanswered. Psychologists can play a vital role in systematically evaluating divorce mediation and in shaping policy in regard to its practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critical reappraisal of divorce mediation research and policy.

Because of the many problems associated with litigating divorce disputes, mediation has been proposed as an alternative. Its proponents, claiming wide-ranging benefits for both the litigants and the legal system, have had tremendous success in advancing mediation in social policy. This article critically assesses the validity of these claimed benefits. The article first considers the role of pro se representation and its potential consequences for evaluating divorce mediation because of the increased use of pro se representation in these cases. The article then articulates the goals attributed to the mediation procedure and its clients, identifies the behavioral assumptions underlying those goals, and critically reviews the social science research and theory that have directly tested the validity of the goals and assumptions or are indirectly relevant to the analysis (B. D. Sales, 1983). It is concluded that the goals of divorce mediation may have been and may be overly optimistic. The implications of these findings for mediation practice and policy are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collaborative law: A new paradigm for divorce lawyers.

Collaborative law arose as a response to the harms of family law litigation and the limitations of family mediation. It consists of lawyers and clients working exclusively toward settlement. The lawyers and neutral experts are disqualified if the parties should litigate. Lawyers behave and think quite differently in collaborative law. To do it well requires new skills and knowledge not learned in conventional practice. Performed well, collaborative law can have a transformative effect on lawyers, clients, families, and communities. It has healing effects that distinguish it from adversarial practice and bring it within the compass of therapeutic jurisprudence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental divorce and adolescent delinquency: Ruling out the impact of common genes.

Although the well-documented association between parental divorce and adolescent delinquency is generally assumed to be environmental (i.e., causal) in origin, genetic mediation is also possible. Namely, the behavior problems often found in children of divorce could derive from similar pathology in the parents, pathology that is both heritable and increases the risk that the parent will experience divorce. To test these alternative hypotheses, the authors made use of a novel design that incorporated timing of divorce in a sample of 610 adoptive and biological families. They reasoned that if genes common to parent and child mediate this association, nonadopted youth should manifest increased delinquency in the presence of parental divorce even if the divorce preceded their birth (i.e., was from a prior parental relationship). However, should the association be environmental in origin, the authors reasoned that adolescents should manifest increased delinquency only in response to divorce exposure, and this association should not vary by adoption status. Results firmly supported the latter, suggesting that it is the experience of parental divorce, and not common genes, that drives the association between divorce and adolescent delinquency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child and family coping one year after mediated and litigated child custody disputes.

Evaluated child and family outcomes 1 yr after parents had used mediation (n?=?32) or litigation (n?=?26) to settle custody disputes over children aged 2–17 yrs. One year after settlement, parents in mediation showed greater correspondence in perceptions of the settlement process and of their child's problems. Contrary to expectations, there was a greater association between parent and child problems among families in mediation. Child outcomes did not differ in the mediation and litigation groups but did differ according to the level of parental conflict. Custody settlements that promote ongoing contact between parents after divorce may offer both rewards and risks. Children can benefit when the parents' relationship is cooperative, but may suffer when the parents continue to fight. More intensive intervention may be needed to help parents maintain generational boundaries and shelter their children from conflict after divorce. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lawyers' opinions regarding child custody mediation and assessment services: Implications for psychological practice.

Psychologists who conduct divorce mediation or child custody assessment must understand the context of such professional practice and the views of other professions involved, such as lawyers. In this study, family lawyers (N?=?161) completed a questionnaire about mediation and assessment of custody disputes, indicating positive attitudes toward mediation and recognition of its favorable effects on the family. Lawyers viewed assessment as a desirable alternative to litigation but did not associate it with enhanced family functioning. Lawyers strongly endorsed the need for abuse screening prior to mediation. Distinctions between the roles of lawyers and psychologists are emphasized. The necessity of effective abuse screening is highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detecting intimate partner violence in family and divorce mediation: A randomized trial of intimate partner violence screening.

Handling mediation cases with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most controversial issues in the field of divorce mediation. Before deciding whether and how to mediate cases with IPV, mediators must first detect violence. Using random assignment of cases to an enhanced screening condition (n = 30) and to a standard screening control condition (n = 31), we compared information gathered from a brief, behaviorally specific IPV screening questionnaire to mediators' independent determination of the presence or absence of violence using standard mediation clinic screening procedures. Mediators did not label as violent about half of the cases reporting IPV on the screening questionnaire. Mediators were more likely to report IPV when fathers were reported (by mothers) to have engaged in a greater number of differing violent behaviors, but a score reflecting severity and frequency of party reported violence did not predict mediator detection of violence. In cases with two mediators, mediators did not always agree on whether or not the case involved IPV. Possible reasons for the differences in mediator and party reports of IPV are considered, and we emphasize the potential importance of using systematic methods to screen for violence in divorce mediation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term impact of parental divorce on intimate relationship quality in adulthood and the mediating role of psychosocial resources.

The purpose of this 16-year prospective follow-up study was to investigate the association between parental divorce in childhood and intimate relationship quality in adulthood. The mediating role of psychosocial resources (parent-child relationships at 16 years, self-esteem and social support at 32 years) in this association was also studied. All 16 year olds of one Finnish city completed questionnaires at school and were followed up by postal questionnaires at 32 years of age (n = 1,471). Results showed that women and men from divorced families were more often divorced or separated at the age of 32 years than those from nondivorced families. However, parental divorce was associated with poorer intimate relationship quality only among women. Women from divorced families also had poorer relationships with their father and mother in adolescence, and they had lower self-esteem and satisfaction with social support in adulthood than women from intact families. No such associations were found among men. The impact of parental divorce on intimate relationship quality among women was partially mediated by mother-daughter relationship, self-esteem, and satisfaction with social support. The mediating role of mother-daughter relationship was not direct, however, but was mediated via self-esteem and satisfaction with social support. Our findings indicate that parental divorce affects daughters more than sons. In the context of parental divorce, the mother-daughter relationship in adolescence is important for the development of later psychosocial resources and, via them, for intimate relationship quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The presence of psychiatric consultations in relation to divorce

In this study all couples who during a period of 1 year were divorced at a Swedish district court, and who had children living at home, were examined for psychiatric consultations before, during and after the divorce period. Psychiatric consultation was defined as having a psychiatric record at the only psychiatric clinic in the catchment area. The divorced couples were compared with a matched group of married people. The results showed that there was a 4.1-fold higher risk for divorced men and a 2.5-fold higher risk for divorced women of acquiring a psychiatric record. The increased rate of psychiatric consultations was evident before as well as after the divorce period, but was most striking during the divorce period. A greater proportion of men than women started and continued to experience their psychiatric problems before and during the divorce period, while women more often started and continued to experience their psychiatric problems during the divorce period and afterwards.     

Stillbirth and maternal well-being

BACKGROUND: Stillbirth imposes severe strains on the mother. Little is known about the long-term well-being after such an experience. METHODS: The study population comprises 380 women who experienced stillbirth and 379 control women with a livebirth in 1991. Data were collected by a postal questionnaire in 1994 in a nationwide study in Sweden. The response rate was 84%. RESULTS: The index women stated more often than controls that they had an improved relationship with the baby's father at the time of follow-up than before the child's birth, the ratio of proportions (with 95% confidence interval) of women with an improved relationship being 1.8 (1.4-2.2). The corresponding figure for high satisfaction with home and family situation at the time of the survey was 1.3 (1.1-1.6) and 3.7 (1.6-8.3) for low satisfaction with the appreciation they encountered outside the home. The cumulative incidence of separation/divorce after a stillbirth was the same as after a livebirth, 8%. Marital status strongly modified the results; for single women the ratio of proportions (stillbirth compared to livebirth) for an improved relationship with the baby's father was 0.2 (0.0-1.4) and for high satisfaction with home and family situation 0.1 (0.0-0.9). CONCLUSIONS: Stillbirth increases satisfaction with the relationship with the baby's father and the home and family situation, but it decreases maternal satisfaction of appreciation by others outside of the home. This traumatic experience does not affect the risk of separation/divorce, but single women are at risk of social complications after stillbirth, and psychosocial support may be appropriate for this subgroup.     

The psychological/mediation intervention model.

Psychological/mediation intervention (PMI), a form of single-session psychotherapy, is presented as a flexible approach suitable for use in a variety of situations involving interpersonal conflict. The dual objectives are first resolution of the immediate conflict and second, as a preventative measure, alteration of the interactional pattern that gave rise to the difficulties. PMI is contrasted with 3 types of increasingly used forms of mediation—divorce, issue-centered, and neighborhood mediation. The procedures of PMI, designed to meet the 2 objectives, are described and illustrated for each of its 6 stages: introducing the concept and methods, creating a safe atmosphere, establishing a therapeutic contract, engaging in social learning instruction, finding solutions, and evaluating the session. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The social consequences of psychiatric disorders, III: probability of marital stability

OBJECTIVE: The associations of prior DSM-III-R disorders with probability and timing of subsequent divorce were examined. METHOD: The data came from the part II subsample (N=5,877) of the National Comorbidity Survey. The respondents completed a structured diagnostic interview that retrospectively dated age at onset of each of 14 lifetime DSM-III-R disorders and recorded ages at first marriage and divorce. These data were used to estimate survival models describing the relationships between prior disorders and subsequent divorce. In addition, simulations were used to estimate the number of years spent out of marriage because of these causal relationships in the total U.S. population. RESULTS: Prior psychiatric disorders were associated with a substantially higher risk of divorce. The simulations suggested that the effects of these associations in the U.S. population in the survey's age range are approximately 23 million lost years of marriage among men and 48 million lost years of marriage among women. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric disorders have a number of adverse consequences for those who suffer from them and for their families and communities. The results reported here suggest that an increase in the number of people who divorce and a decrease in the number of years of marriage in the population may be among them. The debate over whether society can afford to provide universal treatment for psychiatric disorders needs to take these costs into consideration.     

Personality and divorce: a genetic analysis

M. McGue and D.T. Lykken (1992) found that divorce risk was, to a substantial degree, genetically mediated; prior research has identified numerous social and psychological factors that affect divorce risk (G.C. Kitson, K.B. Barbi, & M.J. Roach, 1985). The present study attempted to link these domains by examining the extent to which genetic influences on one such psychological factor, personality, explain divorce risk heritability. A sample of adult twins from the Minnesota Twin Registry completed a marital history questionnaire and the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (A. Tellegen, 1982). Positive Emotionality and Negative Emotionality factors were positively related to divorce risk, whereas Constraint was negatively related. In women and men, respectively, 30% and 42% of the heritability of divorce risk consisted of genetic factors affecting personality and divorce risk correlated largely as a result of these common genetic influences.     

Impact of the EU Mediation Directive on the German Construction Sector

The European Union (EU) Mediation Directive of 2008 has to be transposed into German law by 2011. German law already complies with the Directive to a large extent. The only action that needs to be taken concerns the loosely defined obligations regarding the quality of mediation and the mediator’s right to refuse to give evidence. In both cases, only the law governing cross-border disputes needs to be amended. Nevertheless, it is likely that the Directive will have a significant impact on the German construction sector. In terms of cross-border disputes, German companies involved in other EU member states will feel the impact directly because the Directive makes mediation more effective by creating a consistent European framework that provides a balanced relationship between mediation and judicial proceedings. In terms of domestic mediations, the impacts of the Directive will be more indirect. The German lawmaker is likely to go beyond the requirements set out in the Directive, at least by applying the new rules to both cross-border and domestic mediations, but perhaps even by introducing incentives for mediation which are not required by the Directive.     

Prediction of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in siblings of children with diabetes. A population-based study. The Childhood Diabetes in Finland Study Group

The relationship between parental divorce occurring during adolescence and young adult psychosocial adjustment was examined, as was the role of family process variables in clarifying this relationship. Participants were young Caucasian adults from divorced (n = 119) and married (n = 123) families. Assessments were conducted during adolescence and 6 years later during early adulthood. Young adults from married families reported more secure romantic attachments than those from divorced families; however, differences were not evident in other domains of psychosocial adjustment after demographic variables were controlled. Three family process variables (parent-adolescent relationship, interparental conflict, and maternal depressive symptoms) were examined as potential mediators and moderators of the association between parental divorce and young adult adjustment. No evidence supporting mediation or moderation was found; however, the parent-adolescent and parent-young adult relationships, particularly when the identified parent was the father, emerged as significant predictors of young adult psychosocial adjustment.     

Effects of parental divorce on marital commitment and confidence.

Research on the intergenerational transmission of divorce has demonstrated that compared with offspring of nondivorced parents, those of divorced parents generally have more negative attitudes toward marriage as an institution and are less optimistic about the feasibility of a long-lasting, healthy marriage. It is also possible that when entering marriage themselves, adults whose parents divorced have less personal relationship commitment to their own marriages and less confidence in their own ability to maintain a happy marriage with their spouse. However, this prediction has not been tested. In the current study, we assessed relationship commitment and relationship confidence, as well as parental divorce and retrospectively reported interparental conflict, in a sample of 265 engaged couples prior to their first marriage. Results demonstrated that women's, but not men's, parental divorce was associated with lower relationship commitment and lower relationship confidence. These effects persisted when controlling for the influence of recalled interparental conflict and premarital relationship adjustment. The current findings suggest that women whose parents divorced are more likely to enter marriage with relatively lower commitment to, and confidence in, the future of those marriages, potentially raising their risk for divorce. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)