Families in High-Conflict Divorces: Parent Outcomes of No Kids in the Middle

ABSTRACT

This study reports on the short-term outcomes of the multi-family group intervention “No Kids in the Middle” (NKM). NKM is aimed at decreasing parental conflicts, hostile attributions about the ex-partner, and perceived social network disapproval of the ex-partner in high-conflict divorces (HCD). Interventions such as NKM are important as persistent parental conflicts can have severe negative consequences for children. For the current study, 167 HCD parents completed questionnaires at the start and end of NKM and at 6-month follow-up. A convenience sample of 136 divorced parents who were not in high conflict completed a single assessment. Their scores were used to define whether the reliable change index (RCI) for the HCD group represented a meaningful change. Parental conflict and social network disapproval of parents in a HCD decreased throughout all assessments. Hostile attributions did not change. The results provide initial evidence that NKM might help reduce conflict in HCD.

KEYWORDS:

• Parental conflicts
• high conflict divorce
• social network disapproval
• hostile attributions
• pre-post intervention design

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all parents and children for their participation in the study and the participating mental health institutions for supporting data collection and their engagement for helping these families. We also thank Kim Schoemaker and Annelies de Kruiff for their invaluable work in the data collection, Margot van der Wart for creating time and space to support the scientific research in a clinical setting, and Marc Delsing for their advice on the statistical analyses. We would also like to thank Justine van Lawick, Erik van der Elst, Elisabeth van der Heide, Wendy de Visser, Flora van Grinsven, and Jeroen Wierstra for their suggestions and ideas in interpreting the results.

Disclosure statement

M. M. Visser co-developed the intervention No Kids in the Middle.

Data availability statement

The data and analyses supporting the results in this study are stored at the Viersprong Institute for Studies on Personality Disorders. More information can be requested with the first or second author.

Ethics approval

Ethics approval was provided by the institutional research ethics committee (VCWE-2015-112) from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Kenter Jeugdhulp and de Viersprong as well as by a grant from Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving.