Identifying a typology of helpful post‐divorce family assets: Implications for divorce education

• Published date: 01 July 2024
• Author: Jonathon J. Beckmeyer,Luke T. Russell
• Date: 01 July 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12808

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Identifying a typology of helpful post-divorce

family assets: Implications for divorce education

Jonathon J. Beckmeyer | Luke T. Russell

Department of Family and Consumer

Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal,

Illinois, USA

Correspondence

Jonathon J. Beckmeyer, Department of Family

and Consumer Sciences, Illinois State

University, Turner Hall Room 110, 700

W. College Ave., Norma, IL 61761, USA.

Email: jjbeckm@ilstu.edu

Abstract

Divorce education programs seek to provide parents with

information about various aspects of the divorce process,

its consequences, and strategies for successful adjustment.

Within those broad content areas, however, there are myr-

iad of potential promotive-, protective-, and risk-factors

that programs could address. Thus, divorce education pro-

grams could benefit from further guidance about the con-

tent areas divorcing parents may find the most helpful. In

the present study we aimed to describe what divorced par-

ents felt had helped their families throughout the divorce

process. We did so to promote further alignment between

divorce education program content and what parents have

found helpful. Specifically, we identified a typology of help-

ful post-divorce family assets. Our findings suggest that

though a plurality of divorcing parents benefit from a wide

range of legal/professional, former spouse, and personal

assets, the majority rely predominately upon their own par-

enting skills and resources, or perceive few beneficial assets

to draw on. We contend divorce educators should consider

incorporating further information on developing personal

parenting skills or resources, and skillfully navigating legal or

therapeutic systems, to further complement existing

curricula.

KEYWORDS

divorce education, divorce resilience, family assets, parental

divorce

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12808

© 2024 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2024;62:455–473. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 455

Key Points for the Family Court Community

•Divorce education programs could benefit from further

understanding of what divorced parents find helpful as

they navigate family transitions.

•We identified three patterns of helpful assets: (1) Every-

thing Helps (37.6% of sample); (2) Nothing Helps (34.2%);

and (3) I Help Myself (28.2%).

•Across groups, the assets most likely to be seen as help-

ful were within parents' own control (e.g., their own par-

enting skills). Divorce education programs should

consider expanding their focus on these individually con-

trolled assets and skillfully navigating the legal system.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of divorce education is to promote parent and child resiliency to divorce, typically by providing parents

with information about the divorce process, potential impacts on children, parenting plans and post-divorce cop-

arenting, and the unique circumstances that divorced parents can encounter (Bowers et al., 2011; Schramm, &

Becher, 2020). Within those broad content areas, however, there is a myriad of potential promotive-, protective-,

and risk-factors that divorce educators could seek to address within their programs. For example, in Bowers et al.'s

(2011) review of online divorce education programs they identified 46 different content areas. Similarly, Schramm

et al. (2018) identified 41 potential content areas based on findings from the broader literature on parental divorce.

Thus, an ongoing need for divorce education programs is clear guidance regarding what content should make up

these programs so they are best position to promote parent and child well-being (Bowers et al., 2011; Schramm

et al., 2018). Our central aim in the present study was to provide such guidance by identifying patterns of the post-

divorce family assets divorced parents felt had helped them and their families adjust to parental divorce. For the pre-

sent study we drew on Bronfenbrenner's (2005) bioecological model concepts of proximal processes, person charac-

teristics, context, and time (PPCT). The bioecological model positions developmental outcomes (e.g., how well

parents and children adapt to parental divorce) as the product of interactions between proximal processes

(i.e., ongoing interactions with others and environments), person characteristics (i.e., individual demographic charac-

teristics, skills, and capacities), context (i.e., the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro- ecological systems) and time

(i.e., duration of specific developmental experiences and socio-historic time). This model was reflected in both the

post-divorce family assets included in the present study and our expectation that parent, child, and family character-

istics would be associated with post-divorce family assets.

Post-divorce family assets

In general, assets are the intra- and inter-personal resources, skills, opportunities, and capacities that individuals can

use to promote their well-being (Morgan & Ziglio, 2007; Roy et al., 2018). We considered post-divorce family assets

to be the resources, skills, opportunities, and capacities that divorced parents perceived had been helpful as they and

their families adapted to parental divorce. As we were unable to locate a previously published list of post-divorce

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