The relation between divorce, co-parenting conflicts, and children’s adjustment problems has been well established. An unresolved question for research and clinical interventions, however, is how conflicts between parents are maintained and/or escalate. This cross-sectional research tested the hypothesis that co-parenting conflicts in divorced couples are associated with perceived social network disapproval and that this relation is mediated by parents’ tendency to forgive each other. In Study 1, a convenience sample of 136 divorced parents recruited via online forums, we showed that perceived social network disapproval was indeed positively related to co-parenting conflicts and that parents’ tendency to forgive the other parent—albeit partly—explained this relationship. Strength of our research is that in Study 2, 110 parents referred to children’s mental health care because the wellbeing of the children was severely compromised by the severity of the conflicts between parents, we replicated these results. In both studies perceived social network disapproval and co-parenting conflicts were positively related and this link was mediated by forgiveness: perceived social network disapproval was negatively related to forgiveness, which in turn was negatively related to more parental conflicts.

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I'll Never Forgive You: High Conflict Divorce, Social Network, and Co-Parenting Conflicts.

Background: Interparental violence is both common and harmful and impacts children’s lives directly and indirectly. Direct effects refer to affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses to interparental violence and psychosocial adjustment. Indirect effects refer to deteriorated parental availability and parent–child interaction. Standard Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy may be insufficient for children traumatized by exposure to interparental violence, given the pervasive impact of interparental violence on the family system. HORIZON is a trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy based group program with the added component of a preparatory parenting program aimed at improving parental availability; and the added component of parent–child sessions to improve parent–child interaction. Methods/design: This is a multicenter, multi-informant and multi-method randomized clinical trial study with a 2 by 2 factorial experimental design. Participants (N = 100) are children (4-12 years), and their parents, who have been exposed to interparental violence. The main aim of the study is to test the effects of two parental components as an addition to a trauma focused cognitive behavioral based group therapy for reducing children’s symptoms. Primary outcome measures are posttraumatic stress symptoms, and internalizing and externalizing problems in children. The secondary aim of the study is to test the effect of the two added components on adjustment problems in children and to test whether enhanced effects can be explained by changes in children’s responses towards experienced violence, in parental availability, and in quality of parent–child interaction. To address this secondary aim, the main parameters are observational and questionnaire measures of parental availability, parent–child relationship variables, children’s adjustment problems and children’s responses to interparental violence. Data are collected three times: before and after the program and six months later. Both intention-to-treat and completer analyses will be done. Discussion: The current study will enhance our understanding of the efficacy interparental violence-related parental components added to trauma focused cognitive behavioral group program for children who have been exposed to IPV. It will illuminate mechanisms underlying change by considering multiple dimensions of child responses, parenting variables and identify selection criteria for participation in treatment. Netherlands Trial Register NTR4015. Registered 4th of June, 2013

The impact of destructive parental conflicts on children and their families: The role of parental availability, mother-child emotion dialogues, and forgiveness

This chapter examines research dealing with the effects of beliefs and values on happiness, subjective wellbeing, and positive mental health. In regard to beliefs, the chapter discusses the effects of positive views, trust, forgiveness and gratitude, political persuasion, religious beliefs, and social axioms. Concerning values, the chapter discusses much of the research based on the Schwartz Values theory and specific research programs related to individualism-collectivism, secularism, and materialism.

Effects of Beliefs and Values on Wellbeing

espanolEl presente estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar la estructura factorial de la version Chilena del Cuestionario de perdon a la ex pareja (CPD-S; Yarnoz-Yaben & Comino, 2012), examinar la invarianza metrica segun sexo y tipo de relacion (matrimonios y convivencias), estimar la consistencia interna de la escala y evaluar su asociacion con indicadores de salud mental y satisfaccion con la vida. Para ello, se evaluo una muestra de 715 personas separadas o divorciadas chilenas. Los datos proporcionan evidencia que el instrumento se ajusta aceptablemente a una estructura unidimensional, que la escala es invariante segun sexo y tipo de relacion y que posee una consistencia interna adecuada. Ademas, se identificaron asociaciones significativas con medidas de salud mental y satisfaccion con la vida en las direcciones esperadas. En conclusion, se sostiene la validez de las puntuaciones del CPD-S para su uso en contexto chileno. EnglishThe objective of this study was to evaluate the factorial structure of the Chilean version of the Questionnaire of Forgiveness of the Former Partner (CPD-S; Yarnoz-Yaben & Comino, 2012) to examine its metric equivalence according to sex and type of relationship (marriages and cohabitation), to evaluate its association with mental health indicators and life satisfaction and estimate its internal consistency. For this, a sample of 715 separated or divorced Chilean people was evaluated. Data provided evidence that the instrument fits properly to an one-dimensional structure, that the scale is invariant according to sex and type of relationship and that it has an adequate internal consistency. In addition, significant associations were identified with measures of mental health and life satisfaction in the expected directions. In conclusion, the validity of the CPD-S scores for its use in the Chilean context is supported.

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Estructura Factorial, Invarianza Métrica y Propiedades Psicométricas de la Versión Chilena del Cuestionario de Perdón a la Ex Pareja

The main purpose of the present research is to explore the influence of religiousness on couple commitment, drawing from previous studies where religiousness was confirmed as a strong predictor for positive relationship outcomes. We also aim to analyze relationship satisfaction as a mediating variable between religiousness and commitment. Furthermore, the study seeks to investigate forgiveness in dyadic romantic relationships, testing its role as a moderator of the association between relationship satisfaction and commitment. The procedure includes the recruitment of heterosexual students enrolled in post-graduate courses and their partners to take part in the present study. The final sample consists of 116 individuals involved in romantic relationships. All participants filled in a series of validated self-reported measures, providing data which was analyzed using parametric statistical tests. Additionally, we conducted mediation and moderation analyses. Results indicate that relationship satisfaction is positively associated with commitment, whereas religiousness is positively associated with relationship satisfaction, thus having an indirect effect on commitment. Additionally, considering overall forgiveness as well as the negative vs. positive components of the construct, we find that positive forgiveness is associated with commitment, when satisfaction is also considered in the equation. The current results have important therapeutic implications, such as using forgiveness-related therapies for couples and enhancing relationship satisfaction as means to consolidate relationship commitment.

Susan Wade Brown

Papers

Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory