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oai:keep.lib.asu.edu:node-2010602025-06-11T17:41:19Zoai_pmh:alloai_pmh:repo_items

201060 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.201060 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 2025-05 63 pages Feffer, Ariel Kelley, Peter Hoekstra, Valerie Simhony, Avital Barrett, The Honors College Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law School of Politics and Global Studies School of Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership Department of Psychology Parental divorce is more than just two parties separating; for millions of families across the United States, children have long-lasting psychological, emotional, and behavioral challenges after a parental separation. This study aims to examine two types of divorce resolution, family mediation and court adjudication (litigation), in terms of their ability to minimize the negative impacts of the divorce process on children. Our study uses a mixed-method approach, meaning that qualitative interviews and quantitative survey results are used together to create findings. The survey method used students at a large southwestern university (N = 159) to investigate general perceptions of divorce, mediation, and litigation, explicitly emphasizing perceptions of harm to children. The qualitative interviews used legal experts, a family law judge, a juvenile public defender, a child psychologist, and a professional mediator to provide insights into the legal dimension of divorce. Results demonstrate that mediation is perceived to be more effective than court adjudication in reducing conflict between parents during the divorce process. Additionally, a strong correlation was found between a person's belief in mediation's ability to minimize conflict and mediation benefits for children (p < 0.001). The reason for this, as demonstrated by the legal experts, was mediation's ability to increase collaboration between parents, lower emotional distress, and prioritize children's well-being. Litigation, on the other hand, was found to escalate conflict, which can place children at an increased risk of emotional distress, attachment issues, and legal system involvement. The study also found that individuals who experienced divorce firsthand were not statistically more likely to support mediation (p = 0.098), which suggests that exposure to high-conflict divorces may reinforce adversarial perspectives on separations and the best way to go about them. In a nutshell, the study finds the importance of promoting divorce mediation as the primary dispute resolution, not an alternative to litigation. By integrating legal and psychological perspectives, our research provides a comprehensive review of how different divorce resolution methods shape child outcomes and reinforces the need for child-oriented divorce policies. Divorce Children Risk Factors Divorce Mediation Protective factors Court Adjudication Between Litigation and Mediation: A Comparative Study of Conflict Resolution Methods and Their Perceived Effects on Children's Post-Divorce Well-Being.