DIVORCE MEDIATION: 
Research and Reflections

Abstract

Mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) grew rapidly in the last few decades as a result of high divorce rates, frequent conflicts between parting parents, the resulting administrative burden on courts, and especially concerns about damaging effects on children and postdivorce family relationships. This article focuses on our longitudinal research involving randomized trials of mediation and adversary settlement to support the conclusions that mediation can: (1) settle a large percentage of cases otherwise headed for court;(2) possibly speed settlement, save money, and increase compliance with agreements; (3) clearly increase party satisfaction; and (4) most importantly, lead to remarkably improved relationships between nonresidential parents and children, as well as between divorced parents -even twelve years after dispute settlement. The key "active ingredients" of mediation are likely to include: (1) the call for parental cooperation over the long run of coparenting beyond the crisis of separation, (2) the opportunity to address underlying emotional issues (albeit briefly), (3) helping parents to establish a businesslike relationship, and (4) the avoidance of divisive negotiations at a critical time for family relationships. We call for more research on mediation and other forms of ADR, as well as a renewal of the excitement and optimism of the "first generation" of mediators, qualities that are "active ingredients" in any successful social or psychological intervention.In the last few decades, mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for disputes between divorcing, divorced, or never-married parents have spread rapidly, particularly for conflicts involving custody and other issues about children. The growth of mediation followed increasing rates of divorce in the United States and elsewhere in the industrialized world, and was motivated by a general dissatisfaction with the traditional adversary methods for settling these disputes through attorney negotiations or litigation. Advocates promised that mediation and other forms of ADR would achieve the two broad, but not always fully compatible, goals of making dispute resolution both more efficient and increasingly family friendly.Motivated by research showing that many harmful effects of divorce on children were due to exposure to and involvement in parental conflict (Emery, 1982), we embraced the promise of mediation (Emery & Wyer, 1987a) and developed a court-based custody mediation program in the mid-1980s, one of the first such programs in Virginia. Two unique features distinguished our efforts from most mediation programs. First, our objective from the beginning was to evaluate the effectiveness of mediation in comparison to adversary settlement, and, in fact, we were able to obtain random assignment to one or the other alternative, a powerful and critically important scientific control. Second, our mediation process was short-term so as to be practical for court programs, yet our mediation style also was ...

The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children: An Update

“…Evaluation studies indicate that mediation decreases the likelihood that couples will pursue litigation, lowers the cost of divorce, and increases parents' satisfaction with the final outcome (Douglas, 2006). Emery and colleagues (Emery, Sbarra, & Grover, 2005) conducted the most rigorous study of mediation by randomly assigning couples to mediation and nonmediation groups and following these parents for over a decade. These researchers found that mediation resulted in greater satisfaction with postdivorce outcomes, more contact between nonresident fathers and children, and better communication and less conflict between divorced parents.…”

Deeper into divorce: Using actor-partner analyses to explore systemic differences in coparenting conflict following custody dispute resolution.

“…This approach involves determining whether patterns of interpersonal influence operate differently between mothers and fathers as well as between the two custody resolution groups. Finally, we examined how these processes unfold over time; in particular, we investigated whether initial patterns of non-acceptance in one parent predict elevated levels of coparenting conflict over a decade after the initial dispute resolution.To address these topics, we reported new analyses from the Charlottesville Mediation Project (CMP), a field experiment comparing the effectiveness of problem-focused but emotionally informed mediation with the adversarial settlement of child custody disputes (see Emery, 1994;Emery et al, 2005). Seventy-one families who petitioned a Virginia court in the mid-1980s for a contested custody hearing were approached at random and asked to consider settling their custody disputes through a newly developed mediation program or continuing with a litigation-as-usual research program.…”

Los efectos del conflicto parental después del divorcio sobre el rendimiento educativo de los hijos

“…The advantages of this cooperative relationship would be a greater investment of time and money of the parents who do not live with their children (as suspicion about the upbringing of the children would diminish), and minimising shortfalls in terms of care and economic resources that are often experienced in single-parent homes, due to the lack of involvement and support of the non-resident parent. Mediation services and parental training courses for divorced parents may facilitate these objectives (Emery et al, 2005;Fariña and Arce, 2005;Emery, 1994). In the United States, for example, a programme for divorced parents called 'Dads for Life' has been promoted to encourage the involvement of the non-resident parent in the care of the children and reinforce upbringing skills, work to reduce parental conflict and foster joint parenting (DeGarmo et al, 2008;Cookston et al, 2006;Braver et al, 2005).…”

“…Las ventajas de esa relación cooperativa pueden redundar en mayores inversiones de tiempo y dinero de los progenitores que no residen con sus hijos (al disminuir las suspicacias acerca del modo en que los niños son criados) y paliar de este modo déficits de atención y recursos económicos que a menudo se experimentan en hogares monoparentales por falta de implicación y apoyo de ese progenitor. Los servicios de mediación y cursos de educación parental dirigidos a padres divorciados pueden facilitar estos objetivos (Emery et al, 2005;Fariña y Arce, 2005;Emery, 1994). En Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, se ha impulsado el programa «Dads for Life» dirigido a padres divorciados que, además de promover la implicación del padre no residente en el cuidado de los hijos y reforzar las habilidades de crianza, trabaja para reducir el conflicto interparental e incentivar la coparentalidad (DeGarmo et al, 2008;Cookston et al, 2006;Braver et al, 2005).…”

“…Los servicios de mediación y cursos de educación parental dirigidos a padres divorciados pueden facilitar estos objetivos (Emery et al, 2005; Fariña y Arce, 2005;Emery, 1994). En Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, se ha impulsado el programa «Dads for Life» dirigido a padres divorciados que, además de promover la implicación del padre no residente en el cuidado de los hijos y reforzar las habilidades de crianza, trabaja para reducir el conflicto interparental e incentivar la coparentalidad (DeGarmo et al, 2008;Cookston et al, 2006;Braver et al, 2005).…”