It got me thinking: The impact of participating in a divorce decision‐making interview

Abstract

Although there is literature documenting the reasons for and outcomes of divorce, there is limited research about the divorce decision‐making process. Researchers with the National Divorce Decision‐Making Project interviewed (n = 30) people in the process of making a divorce decision. One year later they conducted a second interview (n = 22) with the same sample to track any changes in participants' divorce ideation. The current study reports on the results of a thematic analysis of participants' responses to the final question, “How did the initial interview impact your thinking about the future of your marriage?” Three salient themes emerged from the data: (1) talking got me thinking, (2) thinking got me acting, and (3) the conversation was (surprisingly) therapeutic. The authors highlight possible clinical implications and directions for future research.