Enhancing daily affect in youth experiencing high‐conflict parental divorce: A multiple baseline trial of an online prevention program

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Karey L. O′Hara,Jesse L. Boring,Irwin N. Sandler,Connie J. Beck
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12654

ARTICLE

Enhancing daily affect in youth experiencing high-

conflict parental divorce: A multiple baseline trial

of an online prevention program

Karey L. O0Hara

1

|Jesse L. Boring

2

|Irwin N. Sandler

1

|

Connie J. Beck

3

1

REACH Institute, Department of Psychology,

Arizona State University, Tempe,

Arizona, USA

2

Department of Psychology, State University

of New York (SUNY) Broome, Binghamton,

New York, USA

3

School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences,

University of Washington, Tacoma, Tacoma,

Washington, USA

Correspondence

Karey L. O'Hara, REACH Institute,

Department of Psychology, Arizona State

University, 900 S. McAllister Ave., Tempe,

Arizona 85287-6005, USA.

Email: klohara@asu.edu

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of a highly interactive,

online cognitive-behavioral youth coping program: Children

of Divorce-Coping with Divorce (CoD-CoD; Boring et al.,

2015) on children exposed to high levels of interparental

conflict (IPC). A multiple-baseline experimental design

(N=9) evaluated within-subject intervention effects on

change in daily positive and negative affect before, during,

and after the intervention (nobservations =462). Partici-

pants were youth ages 11–16 who reported high exposure

to IPC and whose parents had filed for divorce or parenting

plan determinations in the prior year. A significant interac-

tion effect indicated change in positive affect, but not nega-

tive affect, between the intervention and baseline phases.

Positive affect linearly decreased during the baseline phase

and flattened during the intervention phase. Results indi-

cate that CoD-CoD was effective in interrupting a decline

in youth-reported positive affect in a high-IPC sample,

which may indicate a buffering effect against depression.

Critical future directions include conducting large-scale ran-

domized trials with children from high-IPC families to assess

for whom the program is effective and assess long-term

effects across a broad range of important outcomes.

This research was funded by a crowdfund campaign conducted through the University of Arizona Foundation, and two grants awarded by the University of

Arizona Graduate and Professional Student Council and the American Psychology-Law Society. Karey L. O0Hara's work on this paper was supported by a

K01 Career Development Award through the National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH120321–01).

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12654

© 2022 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

458 Family Court Rev. 2022;60:458–473.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre

KEYWORDS

child mental health, coping, interparental conflict, parental

divorce, prevention

Key points

•One of the most well-documented risk factors that pre-

dicts the development of youth mental health problems

after parental separation/divorce is exposure to continu-

ing high levels of interparental conflict.

•Adaptive coping is a modifiable protective factor for

youth, and thus, it is to evaluate interventions that teach

adaptive coping strategies to youth who are exposed to

post- separation/divorce interparental conflict.

•An online coping program, Children of Divorce—Coping

with Divorce (CoD-CoD) interrupted an average decline

in daily positive affect (e.g., feeling happy, energetic,

calm), but had no effect on daily negative affect (e.g.,

feeling sad, angry, upset) in a sample of youth exposed

to high-conflict divorce.

•Based on the results of the two existing experimental tri-

als, CoD-CoD may be considered a promising program to

reduce adjustment problems for children from sepa-

rated/divorced families including those experiencing high

levels of IPC.

Each year approximately 1.1 million youth in the U.S. experience parental divorce (Kreider & Ellis, 2011). Youth in

divorced families experience higher rates of mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety; Amato, 2010) than

those from non-divorced families, yet the majority (roughly 65–75%) do not develop clinically significant problems

(Hetherington & Kelly, 2002). One of the most well-documented risk factors that predicts the development of these

mental health problems post-divorce is exposure to continuing high levels of interparental conflict (IPC)

(Amato, 2010; Harold & Sellers, 2018; Kelly, 2000).

The identification of IPC as a robust risk factor for youth after divorce has led to a search for modifiable protec-

tive factors such as active and distraction coping (Sandler et al., 1994). One 6-year longitudinal study found that chil-

dren's coping efforts moderate the effects of IPC trajectories on mental health problems (O'Hara et al., 2019).

Interventions that teach youth to cope with a variety of divorce-related stressors have been shown to reduce their

post-divorce mental health problems up to 2 years later (Stathakos & Roehrle, 2003). However, despite the known

risks associated with high post-divorce IPC, no coping interventions have been tested with this high-risk group.

Coping programs that target youth are a critical piece of expanding the reach and public health impact of pre-

ventive programs for divorcing families. This is especially relevant for youth exposed to high post-divorce IPC. Youth

rate IPC is one of the most stressful divorce-related events (Wolchik et al., 1986). Further, the parents of children

experiencing high IPC are less likely to attend voluntary parenting programs (Braver et al., 2016) and are more likely

to drop out prematurely (Mauricio et al., 2017). Thus, it is crucial that we evaluate interventions that directly support

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