A Multidimensional Perspective on Former Spouses' Ongoing Relationships: Associations With Children's Postdivorce Well‐Being

• Published date: 01 April 2021
• Author: Jonathon J. Beckmeyer,Samantha J. Krejnick,Jasmin A. McCray,Jessica Troilo,Melinda Stafford Markham
• Date: 01 April 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12504

J J. B, S J. K,  J A. MCIndiana

University of Public Health–Bloomington

J TWest Virginia University

M S MKansas State University

A Multidimensional Perspective on Former

Spouses’ Ongoing Relationships: Associations

With Children’s Postdivorce Well-Being

Objective: To determine which aspects of

divorced parents’ ongoing relationships with

their former spouses were associated with

children’s and youth’s postdivorce well-being.

Background: Research on the associations

between former spousal relationships and

children’s postdivorce well-being has focused

extensively on postdivorce coparenting, with

less emphasis on other aspects of these multidi-

mensional relationships.

Method: Divorced parents (N=641), recruited

via Amazon MTurk, reported on six aspects of

their relationships with their former spouses

(coparenting cooperation, general communica-

tion with former spouses, boundary ambiguity,

how often they talk with their former spouses,

and satisfaction with custody and child sup-

port), and three indices of postdivorce child

well-being (prosocial, internalizing, and exter-

nalizing behavior).

Results: Analyses were conducted separately

for children (4- to 9-years-old) and youth (10- to

Department of Counseling and Learning Sciences, WestVir-

ginia University, 506 Allen Hall, Morgantown, WV 26506

(jonathon.beckmeyer@mail.wvu.edu).

KeyWords: boundary ambiguity, child well-being, coparent-

ing, divorce, former spouses.

18-years-old). For children, coparenting coop-

eration was associated with more prosocial but

less internalizing behavior; general communi-

cation and boundary ambiguity—family system

were associated with greater externalizing and

internalizing behavior. For youth, boundary

ambiguity—family system was associated with

more externalizing and internalizing behavior,

boundary ambiguity—relationship with former

spouse was associated with more externaliz-

ing behavior, child support satisfaction was

associated with more prosocial behavior, and

custody satisfaction was associated with less

internalizing behavior.

Conclusion: For child and youth postdivorce

well-being, some aspects of former spousal rela-

tionships appear more impactful than others,

with boundary ambiguity appearing particularly

detrimental.

Implications: Divorce education programsmay

need to diversify their content, supplementing

the common focus on postdivorce coparenting

with resources that help parents reduce bound-

ary ambiguity in the family system.

Although parental divorce can be associated

with declines in child well-being, there is

extensive variability in how children adjust to

Family Relations 70 (April 2021): 467–482467

DOI:10.1111/fare.12504

468 Family Relations

parental divorce (Amato, 2010; Cavanagh &

Fomby,2019). Family life educators play impor-

tant roles in promoting children’s postdivorce

resiliency by providing postdivorce education

programs and resources for parents and children

(Crawford et al., 2014; Fackrell et al., 2011).

Perhaps as a reection of the focus cooperative

coparenting has received from researchers, such

programs and resources commonly focus on

helping former spouses establish cooperative

coparenting relationships (Sigal et al., 2011).

Recently, however, researchers have suggested

that postdivorce education programs should

expand their foci to include information about

other dimensions of former spouses’ ongo-

ing relationships (Amato et al., 2011; Russell

et al., 2016). In the present study, we sought

to aid family life educators as they address

those calls by adopting a multidimensional

perspective of former spouses’ ongoing rela-

tionships and testing if multiple aspects of

former spouses’ ongoing relationships were

associated with children’s well-being. Thus,

in the current study, we moved beyond the

common focus on postdivorce coparenting,

conceptualizing former spousal relationships in

terms of general communication between former

spouses (i.e., communication that is not about

children or coparenting), boundary ambiguity,

how often they communicate with each other,

and satisfaction with custody arrangements and

child support. On the basis of family systems

theory (Bortz et al., 2019), we expected that

those qualities, dynamics, and characteristics

would set the stage for children’s adjustment to

postdivorce family life.

Family Systems Perspective

Divorce introduces signicant challenges and

changes across the family system in general,

and to the parental subsystem in particular. For

example, families are tasked with establishing

new family roles, boundaries, and routines

(Emery, 2011; Markham et al., 2017); managing

residential transitions for children (Emery,2011;

Havermans et al., 2017); and adapting to

changes in economic well-being (Cavanagh &

Fomby, 2019). Former spouses also often have

to manage feelings of loss and pain associated

with the end of their marriages (Emery, 2011;

Jamison et al., 2014; Russell et al., 2016).

Because former spouses and their children

still comprise a family system (Adamsons &

Pasley, 2006), if they successfully adjust to

their new family roles and learn to communi-

cate and interact with one another respectfully,

they may be better able to minimize children’s

exposure to interparental conict, provide more

effective parenting, and ensure greater postdi-

vorce family stability (Ahrons, 2011; Lamela

et al., 2016). Conversely, if former spouses are

unable to establish a cordial relationship follow-

ing divorce or they struggle in adapting to their

new family roles, they may experience lower

life satisfaction, mental health challenges, and

parenting stress (Ferraro et al., 2019; Lamela

et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2017), all of which may

make parenting more difcult and negatively

inuence children’s well-being. Therefore, from

a family systems perspective, higher quality

ongoing relationships between former spouses

should create a family context that supports

children’s well-being.

Characteristics and Qualities of Former

Spouses’ Ongoing Relationships

Relationships between former spouses are mul-

tidimensional, involving interactions related to

childrearing, relationship expectations and roles

unrelated to children, the content and frequency

of ongoing communication, and the legal aspects

of divorce. Interactions related to coordinating

children’s care, activities, and needs comprise

the coparenting dimension of former spousal

relationships (Beckmeyer et al., 2017). Postdi-

vorce coparenting is typically conceptualized in

terms of cooperation (i.e., frequently discussing

children’s needs and activities, coordinating

caregiving between households, and mutual par-

enting support; Amato et al., 2011; Beckmeyer

et al., 2014; Troilo & Coleman, 2012). Former

spousal relationships also can vary in their level

of boundary ambiguity (i.e., confusion and

disagreement over the nature of and expecta-

tions for their ongoing relationship; Amato &

Cheadle, 2008; Carroll et al., 2007; Markham &

Coleman, 2012). Ongoing boundary ambiguity

may be due to divorced parents not letting go

of their previous roles as married partners,

the process of redening their relationship

as coparents, or tying to adapt to new family

structures (Jamison et al., 2014; Miller, 2009;

Petronio, 2010).

Communication between former spouses can

be considered in terms of both content and fre-

quency. Although some former spouses limit the