THE ADJUSTMENT AND CONCERNS OF WOMEN TO MARITAL SEPARATION: THE EFFECTS OF TIME LAPSE AND THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF DEPENDENT CHILDREN (DIVORCE, POST-DIVORCE, PROBLEMS)

This study examined the types of problems and adjustments over time that women encounter following divorce, considering the presence or absence of children (PAC). Sixty, first time separated or divorced women were administered the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale (FDAS) and the Checklist of Problems and Concerns (CPC). The women were classified into groups characterized by those with custody of dependent children and those who had no children. Furthermore, three separate Time Since Divorce (TSD) categories were used to define those women separated: (D-1) 0-12 mths., (D-2) 18-30 mths., and (D-3) 36-48 mths. Their results on the FDAS subscales: Feelings of selfworth (FSW), Emotional disentanglement (ED), Feelings of anger (ANG), Symptoms of grief (SOG), Rebuilding social trust (RST) and the CPC subscales: Interpersonal relationships (IR), Loneliness (LO), and Financial concerns (FC) were then analyzed in a 2 x 3 MANOVA. The analysis revealed a significant multivariate effect for the TSD factor on the variables of ED, ANG, SOG, and RST. No effect for the PAC factor or the interaction between TSD x PAC was noted in the analysis. Ryan's method of individual comparisons revealed that the D-1 group, compared to groups D-2 and D-3, experienced significantly more difficulty with ED, SOG and RST. On the variable ANG the D-1 group was significantly different from only the D-3 group. In separate MANOVA's performed on the group of women with children and the group without children some interesting findings regarding their adjustment and concerns were revealed and are discussed in the study.