Children Caught in the Middle: A Brief Educational Intervention for Parents
Children from divorced families are caught in the middle of parental conflicts significantly more often and experience more stress than children from intact homes. In this study, we used a brief educational intervention to assess whether or not parents would change their behaviors if given information about how often children feel caught up in parental conflicts (such as loyalty conflicts, carrying messages, hearing put-downs of the other parent, etc.). We asked 45 high school students to rate both the frequency and stressfulness of 32 situations. We then mailed a brief summary of the findings and an explanatory letter to parents in the intervention group. A one-month follow-up showed that students in the intervention group (compared to those in a randomly assigned control group) reported being caught in such situations significantly less often. This study provides clear evidence of the ability of parents to change behaviors when given direct feedback about what they are doing and how it may be harmful to their children.