Predictors of Engagement in Family Mediation and Outcomes for Families that Fail to Engage

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12270
• Author: Megan Morris,W. Kim Halford,David Hardwick,Jemima Petch
• Date: 01 March 2018
• Published date: 01 March 2018

Predictors of Engagement in Family Mediation and

Outcomes for Families that Fail to Engage

MEGAN MORRIS*

W. KIM HALFORD*

JEMIMA PETCH

†

DAVID HARDWICK*

An important limitation to the effectiveness of family mediation in assisting separated

parents is parents failing to engage in the mediation process. In 524 parents who presented

to a telephone-based mediation service, 113 (22%) initiating parents withdrew from media-

tion before the other parent was invited to participate, 241 (46%) initiating parents had

respondent parents who declined to participate in mediation, and 170 cases (33%) com-

pleted mediation. We tested whether socio-demographic variables, psychological distress,

coparental acrimony, parenting problems, or children’s behavioral difficulties predicted

mediation engagement. High interparental acrimony predicted failure to engage in media-

tion, but none of the other variables predicted mediation engagement. We followed a sam -

ple of 131 families that did not mediate and found they showed elevated psychological

distress, acrimony, parenting problems and child adjustment difficulties, which remained

unchanged 6 months later. Further research is needed to explore strategies to enhance

respondent parent engagement with mediation, and to address the negative outcomes for

those separated families not proceeding with mediation.

Keywords: Separated Families; Family Mediation; Acrimony; Psychological Distress;

Mediation Engagement

Fam Proc 57:131–147, 2018

Family mediation has become a common method to assist separated parents who find it

hard to establish mutually acceptable parenting arrangements (Morris & Halford,

2014). However, many agencies who provide mediation report that a majority of parents

who present seeking mediation fail to complete mediation (Relationships Australia

Queensland, 2014). The current research examined predictors of engagement with media-

tion and the outcomes for those separated parents and their children who do not complete

mediation.

*School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.

†

Relationships Australia (Queensland), Brisbane, Qld, Australia.

Correspondence concerning this article should be address to Megan Morris, School of Psychology,

University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia. E-mail: megan.morris@uqconnect.

edu.au.

Conduct of this research was supported by Australian Research Council Linkage Grant LP120200140

Enhancing outcomes for separated families by improving family mediation awarded to W. Kim Halford,

and additional funding provided by Relationships Australia (Queensland). W. Kim Halford has provided

paid consultation to Relationships Australia-Queensland on training of staff, and service innovation. Dr.

Jemima Petch is Director of Research at Relationships Australia-Queensland. We thank the staff of the

Client Contact Centre at Relationships Australia (Queensland) and the Telephone Dispute Resolution Ser-

vice for support in the conduct of the research. We are very grateful to Riyad Rahimullah, Tulsi Achia, and

David Hardwick for their assistance in collecting data reported in this paper.

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Family Process, Vol. 57, No. 1, 2018 ©2016 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12270

Significance of Parenting after Separation

In many Western countries between 20% and 30% of children’s parents separate before

the children are 18 years of age (Copen, Daniels, & Mosher, 2013; Hayes, Weston, Qu, &

Gray, 2010). Almost all divorced adults and their children experience some psychological

distress around separation, with approximately 35% of adults experiencing clinical levels

of depression or anxiety (Halford & Sweeper, 2013). Psychological distress usually declines

across a 1–2 year period after separation, though a nontrivial minority (about 15%) report

chronic distress (Amato, 2010). In the long-term, on average divorced men and women—

and their children—have only slightly poorer physical and mental health than their mar-

ried counterparts; the effect size difference on most indices of adjustment between

divorced and intact families is very small, d.10 (Amato, 2010). At the same time there

is a subset of separated families who adjust poorly, and adults and children of divorced

families are more than twice as likely to show clinical levels of distress as their married

counterparts (Amato, 2010). The limited data on separated, formerly cohabiting relation-

ships suggest similar problems exist as for divorcing couples (Halford & Sweeper, 2013).

The separated families who show poorest adjustment are characterized by inter-

parental conflict, with about one-quarter of separated parents reporting substantial copar-

enting conflict; which often does not improve with time (Halford & Sweeper, 2013). There

is a reciprocal relationship between severity of coparenting conflict and poor adjustment

of children (Cummings & Davies, 2010), and between interparental conflict and ongoing

psychological distress in adults (Amato, 2010). Conflict between separated parents most

often revolves around child residency and the distribution of parenting responsibilities

(Smyth, 2005). It is estimated that between 60% and 70% of separated parents reach a

mutually acceptable agreement about coparenting their children on their own (Kaspiew

et al., 2009). However, a substantial minority have ongoing conflict about parenting

matters.

Family Mediation

Separated parents who are unable to agree on parenting arrangements have a variety

of options available to assist them, including negotiating through legal representatives,

using family court processes, family counseling, or family mediation. There has been a

major push in many Western countries to encourage use of family mediation (Emery,

2011). Pathways to access mediation services vary across legal jurisdictions. For example,

in the United States in some states mediation is mandated, and in other states mediation

can be required at the discretion of the family court (Tondo, Coronel, & Drucker, 2001). In

Australia, where this study was conducted, there is a national family law that requires

mediation be attempted (except under certain prescribed circumstances), and only if medi-

ation is unsuccessful can an application be made for the dispute to be considered by the

Family Court.

Family mediation involves a professional mediator assisting separated parents to nego-

tiate a mutually acceptable coparenting agreement. Family mediation is considerably

cheaper than court processes, and there is an assumption that an agreement negotiated

by the coparents will be implemented more effectively than a parenting arrangement

imposed by a court (Emery, 2011). In Australia, mediation usually is initiated by one par-

ent, who attends an individual intake interview and assessment. The second parent is

invited to participate in mediation by the mediator, and on agreement to participate

attends an individual intake interview with the mediator. The intake interviews are an

opportunity for each parent to independently describe to the mediator their concerns

about the coparenting arrangement and identify the areas of dispute between the parents.

The mediator usually explores the client’s current approach to attempting to resolve areas

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