Parental divorce can lead to serious and persistent problems in children. In an effort to minimize these problems, divorce parenting seminars were developed to improve understanding of the effects of divorce on their children, prevent negative adjustments associated with parental divorce, and reduce the number of times that divorcing parents return to court to litigate children's issues. This study evaluates the effectiveness of three parenting seminars in reducing relitigation rates. Seminars included in this study are Children Cope with Divorce, Focus on Children, and Children in the Middle. This research evaluates overall effectiveness of parenting seminars in reducing relitigation rates by comparing the relitigation rates of a group of divorcing parents who have attended a parenting seminar (N = 327) and a group composed of divorced parents who did not attend a seminar (N = 294). The study also compared effectiveness between the seminars in reducing relitigation rates (Focus on Children, N = 85, Children in the Middle, N = 127, Children Cope with Divorce, N = 115) All three seminars have similar content, but different formats. To determine if specific seminars benefit individuals who have specific relationship styles, a subscale of the ENRICH Scales was administered to a subsample (N = 137) of the treatment group. The ENRICH subscales used were Style of Communication, Style of Conflict Resolution, and Level of Marital Satisfaction. Subjects also completed demographic questionnaires for descriptive purposes and to determine if any demographic variables affected relitigation rates Results indicate that only one seminar, Children Cope with Divorce, reduced relitigation rates at a statistically significant level. Results also found no relationship between the scores on the subscales, the seminar attended, and relitigation rates. Findings did indicate that there was a positive relationship between the level of marital satisfaction and relitigation rates independent of the seminars. No demographic variables were found to affect the number of times that divorcing parents returned to court. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also included / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_24760 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Contributors | Leitz-Spitz, Mary Ann (Author), Marks, Ronald (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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