The Children of Divorce Intervention Program: An investigation of the efficacy of a school-based prevention program.

Abstract

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP), a school-based, preventively oriented 10-week group program for fourth-grade through sixth-grade children of divorce. CODIP creates a supportive group atmosphere in which children can share divorce-related feelings, clarify common misconceptions, and reduce feelings of isolation and builds competence by teaching problem-solving, communication, and anger control skills to help children cope adaptively with challenges posed by parental divorce. Seventy-two children of divorce, in demographical ly matched groups, were assigned randomly to an immediate intervention (experimental) or a delayed intervention (control) group. The experimental group improved significantly more on teacher ratings of problem behaviors and competence and parent ratings of adjustment and self-reported anxiety. Group leaders also rated experimental group children as having improved significantly. The divorce rate in the United States has increased dramatically, indeed nearly tripled, since 1960 (Report of the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, 1983). It is now estimated that at least 1 million children experience parental divorce annually. The stressful nature of that experience increases the likelihood of adverse effects on their psychological well-being. Because the latter point is well documented in empirical studies and reviews (e.g., Emery, 1982; Felner, Farber, & Primavera, 1980; Hetherington, 1979; Kalter, 1977; Kurdek, 1981; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1979), the present account is limited to several high-impact projects illuminating the psychological problems of children of divorce. Wallerstein and Kelly's 10-year, longitudinal study of 131 children of divorce from middleclass families in Marin County, California