AMELIORATING THE EFFECTS OF PARENTAL DIVORCE - DO SMALL-GROUP INTERVENTIONS WORK

The Rainbows for Children program (an intervention aimed at ameliorati ng the effects of parental divorce) was evaluated using a pre- and pos t-test design that compared program participants to a control group of non-participants. All children indicated higher levels of depression and lower levels of behavioral academic self-esteem than normative sam ples of children who do not come from divorced families. Children with higher indications of irrational beliefs and feelings about divorce r evealed more behavioral and psychological problems as indicated by the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1982) and the Behavioral Aca demic Self-Esteem Scale (Coopersmith & Gilberts, 1982). While these re sults provide support for the premise that changing children's beliefs about divorce should lead to improved outcomes, the program participa nts did not show any significant improvement over the control group af ter participating in the Rainbows program. Possible explanations for t he lack of effects are provided, and specific recommendations of facto rs to consider in deciding whether to continue to provide intervention programs of this sort, and if so, how to improve the program and outc omes for the children, are provided.