FMRIG offers an exciting research participation opportunity: Families needed for study of sibling relationships in separated families.

Please help us to better understand marital separation through the eyes of children and their siblings. A better understanding of families experiencing marital separation and divorce translates into more effective supports for children and their parents.

We are looking for families to take part in a study of children’s sibling relationships in families where there has been a marital separation.

 As a participant in this study, you would be asked to complete two individual interviews regarding your separation and your children’s relationships with each other.

 As a participant in this study, your child would be asked to complete two individual interviews which would include drawing, stories, and questions, and participate in two sessions with his/her siblings in which they will draw and answer questions together.

Your participation would involve two sessions, each lasting between 60 and 90 minutes. Your child’s participation would involve three to four sessions, each lasting between 90 and 120 minutes.

Research sessions can be conducted at the University of Victoria or at your home, depending on your preference. All interviews will be audio- and video-taped. If possible, one home observation will be conducted in your home.
 In appreciation for their time, your children will each receive a $100.00 Chapters gift certificate.  You will be compensated for any travel expenses incurred.

For more information about this study, or to volunteer for this study, 
please contact:
Jackie Bush, M.A.
Department of Psychology
at 250-853-3790 or  jbush@uvic.ca
This study has been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance 
through, Research Ethics Board, University of Victoria.

If you wish to talk to my supervisor, Dr. Marion Ehrenberg, she can be contacted by phone or e-mail at:

FMRIG contributes a chapter to a new, cutting-edge book about sibling relationships.

FMRIG Presents at CPA - June 2009

FMRIG members travelled to Montreal to share some of the interesting results of a long-term study of young adults who experienced parental divorce in the last conference of the Canadian Psychological Association. The following is a summary of the two posters presented:

FMRIG Presents at CPA: Self-Reflections of Young Adults Who Experienced Parental Divorce:  How Are Views of Marriage and Divorce Affected?

For this study, which used an attachment theory framework and integrated quantitative and qualitative methods, 270 young adults with divorced parents were interviewed.  Participants were asked about their outlook on marriage and divorce, as well as invited to offer their perceptions of how early family experiences had influenced those perspectives.  Our results showed that individuals whose parents’ divorces were high in conflict held more cautious/hesitant views of marriage; they have shared feelings such as: “It’s scary and overwhelming. I’m not ready for it.” At the same time, these individuals focused more on such key elements of successful marriages as commitment, than did participants whose parents’ divorces were cooperative. 

Interestingly, level of conflict did not influence overall perceptions of divorce. Concerning their views on how parental divorce influenced perceptions of close relationships, young adults (especially women) with insecure attachment styles perceived a negative influence in the form of “trust issues,” including fears that their partner will cheat on them, whereas securely attached young adults (especially men) viewed their parents’ divorce to have had positive effects on their close relationships.

Similarly, securely attached young adults reported feelings of “acceptance that ending a marriage is ok,” whereas insecure participants offered a more skeptical view of marriage. Overall, young men with divorced parents held more pragmatic, non-idealized views of marriage and divorce than did young women.

FMRIG Presents at CPA: Young Men’s & Women’s Opinions of Marriage & Divorce in the Context of Family of Origin Experience

This study investigated the perspectives on marriage and divorce of 537 young adults raised in intact and divorced families.  Individuals with insecure attachment styles were found to hold less favorable and more cynical and pessimistic views of marriage than young adults with secure attachment styles, especially if they had also experienced their parents’ divorce. 

Secure and insecure young adults’ views on marriage did not differ in their opinions of what are the key elements of a successful marriage and their belief that the timing   of marriage is critical. Overall, those who had experienced their parents’ divorce during childhood tended to hold more cautious/hesitant views of marriage than those with married parents.  Concerning views of divorce, secure and insecure individuals shared a negative view of divorce and reflected that divorce risk may be heightened by poor preparation for marriage. Having experienced parental divorce tended to strengthen these negative views of divorce. Secure young adults tended to view divorce as a necessary outcome for poor marriages more so than did those with insecure attachments.

Family Boundary Diffusion, Individuation, and Adjustment among Young Adults: An Investigation of Gender and Family Structure Effects

This study, drawing on the experiences of 400 young adults, investigates how reports of family boundary diffusion in adolescence are linked to psychological      individuation from parents and adjustment in young adulthood. It is expected that young adults who experienced family boundary diffusions (measured by triangulation and parentification) in adolescence may experience more negative emotions toward their parents (e.g., guilt, anger) and may have a more difficult time with navigating the normal and healthy individuation process typically occurring in this developmental period. This, in turn, is hypothesized to be related to negative adjustment, measured by indices of overall- and relational adjustment. Further, the study also explores how the associations of these relationships may be similar or different for young men and women with divorced and married parents.

Does Attachment Style Mediate the Link between Parental Differential Treatment and Young Adults' Well-Being and Interpersonal Relationship Quality?

The first goal of Laura's Ph.D. dissertation study is to explore the influence of parental differential treatment (PDT) on sibling relationship quality, romantic   relationship quality, and adjustment in young adulthood. The study investigates    whether attachment style mediates the relations between PDT and these outcomes, potentially serving as a mechanism through which PDT exerts its influence.  This study is the first to explore PDT’s influence on all of these outcomes in one sample, as well as to take into consideration the context of the overall quality of the parent-child relationship and young adults’ perceptions of the fairness of their parents’ PDT. The second goal of this study is to develop a new, more thorough self-report measure of young adults’ perceptions of PDT in their current relationships with their parents.  This measure aims to assess young adults’ views of the differential relationships that they and their siblings have with their parents, rather than the views of children, adolescents, or parents.  Therefore, it examines domains of PDT that should be particularly salient to parent-child relationships in young adulthood (e.g., positive affective quality, negative affective quality, parental support, fostering independence, and negative control).  This new measure of PDT will be compared with the Sibling Inventory of Differential Experience (SIDE; Daniels & Plomin, 1985), the most well-known and best empirically validated self-report measure of PDT.

Summary of research results:
Remarriage & coparenting study

The Families in Motion Research and Information Group (FMRIG) at the University of Victoria recently completed an online survey of remarried parents regarding their remarital quality, coparenting relations with their former spouses, and their beliefs about each of these relationships.  As part of her doctoral dissertation and under the supervision of Associate Professor Dr. Marion Ehrenberg, clinical psychology student Jennifer Pringle was interested to learn more about marital satisfaction and commitment in remarriage, particularly some of the experiences of remarried parents who continue to share parenting responsibilities with their former spouses.    

The study explored two possible influences on remarital quality: 1) a remarried parent’s relationship with his/her former spouse, and 2) expectations and beliefs about remarriage and about shared parenting with former spouses.  Some previous research has found that although having a strong, positive relationship with one’s former spouse is beneficial to children after their parents’ divorce, it can be an added strain in a remarriage and can cause tension with one’s new spouse, sometimes referred to as a “spillover” of conflict.  On the other hand, some remarried spouses have described that a positive relationship with their former spouses relieves stress in their remarriage because there are several adults involved in caring for children and fewer disagreements about parenting responsibilities. 

One possible explanation for these differing reactions involves one’s expectations and beliefs about remarriage, stepfamilies, and coparenting with former spouses.  Although there are now over half a million stepfamilies in Canada, there are still many misconceptions that can make it challenging to know what to expect when remarrying and bringing multiple households together.  Individuals may have differing beliefs before remarriage about what kind of relationship they will have with their former spouses, how involved their new spouses will be in childrearing, and how their stepfamilies will operate, for example.  While many people find that it can take several months or years for stepfamily members to adjust to one another’s preferences, in the meantime unmet expectations can lead to disappointment or conflict.  As such, it is important for research to better understand some of the beliefs and expectations that remarried individuals hold regarding their new marriages and stepfamilies.   Enlarging our understanding of these dynamics to the benefit of remarried parents and families was the focus of our Remarriage & Coparenting Study. 

Over 140 remarried parents from across Canada, the United States, and some other nations responded to the online survey.  Related to the two main ideas presented above, Jennifer’s results suggested that:

1)    The relationship with the former spouse was not related to one’s remarital satisfaction and commitment for most partners.  Although some researchers have found a “spillover” effect where conflict in the coparenting relationship co-occurs with conflict in the remarital relationship, participants in Jennifer’s study seemed not to experience significant disruption in their remarriages from coparenting conflicts or challenges.  In fact, most respondents reported current satisfaction with their remarriages and with the way they communicated with their former spouses about coparenting matters. 

2)    Of the various beliefs that respondents were asked about, two very important ones were an expectation that stepfamilies only have a slim chance of success, and a belief that stepfamilies are “second-best” compared to biologically-related nuclear families.  Understandably, these thoughts could create a lot of discouragement about one’s own remarriage and stepfamily.  On a very encouraging note, however, individuals who held these beliefs before remarriage typically found that their thoughts changed over time and they felt more optimistic in later years.  Perhaps the actual experiences of living in a remarriage and stepfamily reassured these individuals of how fulfilling their new relationships were after all, and fostered an appreciation of the unique benefits of their new families.  Furthermore, the people who recalled the greatest decreases in these beliefs over time also reported more positive remarital adjustment at present, compared to people whose beliefs did not change as much.  The sooner that these beliefs changed, the greater the benefits were to one’s adjustment. 

These results suggest that beliefs and expectations about remarriage and stepfamily life can be very relevant in how well one adjusts to these transitions.  Thus, it is important that remarrying couples and their children have opportunities to develop positive beliefs and expectations about stepfamilies.  The media can play an important role, by showing a broader range of successful and well-adjusted stepfamilies on television, in movies, in books and magazines.  Communicating with experienced stepfamilies via support groups, online communities, and social networks is also an excellent way to expand a positive view of remarriage and stepfamilies.  Family counsellors can help by encouraging remarrying couples and their children to examine their own beliefs about the stepfamily they are forming together and to consider ways of problem-solving worries or concerns they might have about the transition.

A Longterm Study of Separating and Divorcing Families

With the assistance of a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), we are starting a study of recently separated families and plan to follow them over a period of two years. We are considering personal and relationship factors that influence the extent to which divorced parents are able to cooperate with each other regarding the upbringing of their children. The main goal of this line of research is to identify factors that support cooperation between ex-spouses in order to better understand, and ultimately promote, healthy post divorce adjustment for children and their parents.

 

Adolescents in Divorcing Families - A Community Outreach Project 

Our lab is currently exploring a wealth of data that was collected in a large community intervention project, designed to link high school students in divorcing families with community resources via existing peer counseling programs in local secondary schools. With the support of funds from the B.C. Health Research Foundation, we were able to survey 3300 Grade 6 through Grade 12 students before and after the intervention project. We are currently exploring various aspects of the adolescents' knowledge, experiences, and preferences for support regarding conflict and change in their families.

 

The Best Interest of the Child: Psychologists' and Lawyers' Perspectives

This study surveyed psychologists and lawyers working in the area of child custody and access. Common practice issues, stresses and reasons for being involved in this challenging area were considered from psychologists' and lawyers' perspectives. In addition, the study focused on commonalities and differences between the professional groups in defining and conceptualizing the "children's best interests" in families disputing custody and access matters.

 

Young Adults’ Perceptions of Changes in Their Sibling Relationships in the Context of Parental Divorce

This qualitative study examines how sibling relationships change after experiencing a parental divorce in childhood. Using a retrospective, exploratory design, young adult participants who had experienced a parental divorce in childhood completed semi-structured, open-ended interviews, in which they described what their sibling relationships were like before, during, and after their parents’ divorce.

Using tools from “grounded theory”, the interviews will be coded to uncover what factors participants believe have influenced their sibling relationships over time.