Enhancing treatment gains in a school-based intervention for children of divorce through skill training, parental involvement, and transfer procedures.
The school-based Children's Support Group procedure teaches skills to cope with divorce-related events and provides strategies for mastering disrupted developmental tasks. Ss were 103 3rd-through 5th-grade children of separated or divorced parents who were assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups: support; support and skill building; support, skill building, transfer, and parent training procedures; or no-treatment control. Twenty-six children from intact homes served as nonstressed controls. The two skill-building conditions yielded durable improvements in adjustive behaviors in the home. Transfer components yielded additional improvements in affect, but the absence of substantial increments in benefits suggests the need for a closer look at the format and expectations of the transfer vehicle. The benefits of the support-alone condition were experienced most by children who entered the intervention with significant problems, with the greatest reductions in clinical symptomatology at follow-up being found in this group.
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23284-2018.
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Stolberg
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Mahler
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology