NEW BEGINNINGS

OVERVIEW

The New Beginnings program is a group therapy intervention developed for custodial mothers of children ages 9-12 who have recently experienced a divorce. In one variant of the program, parents attend group and individual sessions with clinicians which focus on mother-child relationships, dealing with the problems of divorce, and reducing interparental conflict. A second variant added group sessions for children to the program for mothers. An experimental evaluation of the New Beginnings program found that, at six year follow-up, the mother-only treatment had no impacts overall, but had impacts for children with mental health problems. The mother and child treatment was effective in reducing the development of mental disorders and disorders in general. Likewise, the program was also found to reduce the number of children’s sexual partners.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: children ages 9-12 whose parents have recently experienced a divorce

The New Beginnings program was designed to protect children against the negative stress and effects of divorce. The program focuses on helping parents, specifically mothers, cope with divorce. It also seeks to improve parent-child relationships through behavior change. Parents attend 11 sessions led by trained clinicians, each of which last approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Wolchik, S. A., S. G. West, et al. (2000). "An Experimental Evaluation of Theory-Based Mother and Mother-Child Programs for Children of Divorce." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 68(5): 843-856.

Evaluated Population: Of the mothers, 88% were Caucasian (N=211), 8% Hispanic (N=19), 2% African American (N=5), 1% Asian (N=2), and 1% Other (N=2). Mean age of the mothers was 37.3 years. Forty-seven percent reported completing some college courses. Median yearly income was in the range of $20,001-$25,000. Sixty-three percent (N=151) of custody arrangements were sole maternal, 35% joint (N=84), and 2% split (N=5). Mothers had been divorced an average of 12 months, and the mean number of children was 2.2. The average age of the interviewed children was 10.4 years, and 49% of the children were female.

Approach: The authors randomly assigned 240 families to one of three conditions: program for custodial mothers (N=81); dual-component (mother and child) intervention (N=83); or self-study, reading condition (N=76). The program for mothers left out nonparental adult support to accommodate an expanded discipline section. The custodial mother intervention addressed the following outcomes with a specific intervention technique: mother-child relationship quality, effective discipline, interparental conflict, father-child relationship, child’s active coping and avoidant coping.

The authors assessed mother-child relationship quality, discipline, interparental conflict, father-child relationship, appraisals of divorce stressors, coping, externalizing behavior problems, and internalizing behavior problems. Mother-child relationship quality was measured by using the acceptance and rejection subscales (about 10 items) from an adaptation of the Child Report of Parenting Behavior Inventory (CRPBI) and the 10-item Open Family Communication Subscale of the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale. Recordings and codings of a 15-minute, mother-child interaction were made. For discipline, mothers answered items on inappropriate discipline, appropriate discipline, and follow-through. Both mothers and children answered an inconsistent discipline subscale from the adaptation of the CRPBI. Mothers and children also completed a subscale of the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale to measure interparental conflict. To measure father-child relationship, mothers answered six items that assessed father support of the father-child relationship. Divorce Stressors were measured using the Threat Appraisal Scale, completed by the child. Children answered 36 items on coping from the Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist-Revised and a Coping Efficacy Scale.

For externalizing problems, mothers answered the 33-item, externalizing subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Children completed the aggression and delinquency subscales of the Youth Self Report. Teachers also completed an assessment; they answered the acting-out subscale of the Teacher-Child Rating Scale. For internalizing behaviors, mothers completed the 31-item internalizing subscale of the CBCL. Children completed the Children’s Depression Inventory and the Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale-Revised. Teachers completed the shy-anxious subscale of the Teacher-Child Rating Scale.

Results: The mother condition was significantly different from the self-study condition on the mother-child relationship quality, effective discipline strategies, validation of content (weekly quiz about the content of the intervention for the group leaders), and attending (number of sessions attended). Mother-child relationship quality improved in the mother condition when pretest scores for mother-child relationship were less than 0.17. The mother condition helped to foster more effective discipline strategies compared with the self-study condition, and had higher means than the self-study condition for content and attending. For coping, children with pretest scores of greater than 7.44 reported more support coping in the self-study condition than the mother condition.

The mother condition was significantly different from the dual-component (mother and child) condition on active coping strategies (open-ended answers), avoidant coping strategies (open-ended answers), support coping strategies (open-ended answers), and attending. Children in the dual-component condition reported more active coping, less avoidant coping, and greater support coping compared with children in the mother condition. However, results showed that at pretest scores greater than 4.21, children in the dual-component condition reported more distraction coping.

Wolchick, S. A., Sandler, I. N., Millsap, R. E., Plummer, B. A., Greene, S. M., Anderson, E. R., Dawson-McClure, S. R., Hipke, K., & Haine, R. A. (2002). Six-year follow-up of preventative interventions for children of divorce. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 288(15), 1874-1881.

Evaluated population: Participants were families of children between the ages of 9 and 12 who had recently experienced divorce. 240 families participated in the program and at the six year follow-up 218 of these families were recontacted and interviewed. 108 of children at follow-up were female and the children had a mean age of 17 years. 80% of children still lived with their mothers, 11% lived with their fathers, and 9% lived independently. The racial breakdown of residential parents was 82-89% white, 6-18% Hispanic, 0-1% black, and 0-1% Asian. The mean income of households in the study was between $50,760 and $79,264 depending on the sex of the residential parent at the time of follow-up.

Approach: To be included in the study, each family had to fulfill the following criteria: residential parent was female, neither mother nor any child was being treated for mental health problems, the mother had not remarried and did not have a live-in boyfriend, custody was predicted to remain stable, family resided within 1 hour drive of program site, mother and child spoke English, child was not mentally handicapped or learning disabled, children with ADHD were taking medication, children had to score lower than 17 on the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), children could not have any suicidal ideation, and children had to score lower than the 97^th percentile on the Externalizing Subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC).

After parents and children took a pretest and attended an orientation session, they were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: mother program, mother and child program, and a control. The mother program (MP) consisted of 11 group sessions lasting 1.75 hours each and focused on improving mother-child relationships, effective discipline, increasing father’s access to the child, and reducing interparental conflict. The mother and child program (MPCP) also consisted of 11 group sessions lasting 1.75 hours each and focused on improving effective coping, reducing negative thoughts about divorce, and improving mother-child relationships. Children participated in 11 group sessions. Parents in the control condition received books on adjusting to divorce and a prepared schedule to guide in reading of the materials.

At the 6-year follow-up, children were assessed by parent and self-report on measures of mental disorder, drug abuse and dependence, externalizing problems, internalizing problems, alcohol and drug abuse, and number of sexual partners.

Results: Outcomes were better for both treatment groups, compared with the control group, though they were not all statistically significant. At the 6-year follow-up, adolescents in the MPCP program were less likely to be diagnosed with any disorder (15.1%) and also less likely to be diagnosed with a mental disorder (11.0% than adolescents in the control group (23.5% any disorder, 23.5% mental disorder). Adolescents in the MPCP group also had fewer sexual partners (0.68) compared with those in the control group (1.65). There was no difference found between the MPCP group and the control group with respect to drug abuse or dependency. The MP group overall did not differ from the control group on any measures; however, children in the MP group with mental health problems at baseline had less substance abuse and externalizing behavior, and fewer symptoms of mental disorder.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Website: http://www.newbegin.org/

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 9-12 / Program age ranges in the Guide: middle childhood

Program components: counseling/therapy; parent or family component

Measured outcomes: social and emotional health and development; physical health; behavioral problems; mental health

KEYWORDS: Counseling/Therapy, Parent-Child Interaction, Mental Health, Social/Emotional Health and Development, Stress, Middle Childhood (6-11), Children, Adolescence (12-17), Adolescent, White or Caucasian, Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, Asian, Substance Abuse, Externalizing Problems, Internalizing Problems, Alcohol Use, Illicit Drug Use, Reproductive Health, Parent or Family Component, Physical Health, Behavioral Problems, Divorce.

Program information last updated 5/20/09