This study had several objectives: (1) To test whether or not postdivorce counseling was more effective than no counseling. (2) To determine if a structured group counseling modality or a structured individual counseling modality was more effective, as evaluated by increases in self-esteem and overall divorce adjustment. (3) To explore the role of selected contextual and demographic variables on divorce adjustment and self-esteem. / The sample was composed of subjects volunteering for postdivorce counseling. After stratifying for sex, 15 subjects were randomly assigned to group counseling; 10 to individual counseling and 12 to a "minimal contact" group. The sessions, both individual and group counseling, were conducted by the same two therapists, one male and one female. Together they served as a team of cotherapists when they met with the group, and individually they each counseled five subjects. The treatments groups met for an eight week period. A pretest-posttest design was employed with the Raschke Postdivorce Problems and Stress Scale used to measure divorce adjustment and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale utilized to measure self-esteem. / Analysis of covariance, with pretest scores as the covariate, revealed no significant differences among the three experimental groups in self-esteem improvement, but did indicate that treatment groups improved significantly more than did the "minimal contact" group on divorce adjustment. No significant differences in effectiveness were discovered between individual and group counseling on divorce adjustment or self-esteem. However, a trend favoring individual counseling for subjects having higher self-esteem was discovered. / Multiple regression analysis revealed that "having a spouse who later insisted on divorce" and "length of separation" were the most important variables in explaining divorce adjustment variance. Similarly, "income" and "first marriage ending in divorce" were the most important variables in explaining self-esteem variance. Contextual variables played a more important role in explaining divorce adjustment variance than self-esteem variance. / This study provides additional support for the effectiveness of short-term structured, individual and group treatment models to facilitate divorce adjustment, although therapists' clinical judgments regarding the most appropriate intervention modality must be made on a basis other than that of their relative therapeutic effectiveness. The clinical preference in the literature for a group modality with short-term, structured treatment models to facilitate divorce adjustment was not supported in this study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-12, Section: A, page: 5024. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74712 |
| Contributors | FARENHORST, DIRK., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 183 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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