Psychological well-being of individuals after divorce: the role of social support

Abstract

<b>Background</b><br /> Divorce is a transition period in which divorcing individuals face restructuring of the family system and adjustment to changes. The psychological well-being of divorcees can serve as an important indicator of the adjustment process. The achievement of well-being does not come easily for many reasons, one of which is the experience related to a sense of loss associated with the marriage break-up. Social support is a major relational resource for overcoming the crisis and successfully adjusting to post-divorce life.<br /> <br /> <b>Participants and procedure</b><br /> The sample consisted of 157 individuals after divorce: 120 women and 37 men (mean age = 41.29). Instruments employed in the study included the Sense of Loss Scale (DS), the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ-23), and sociodemographic data.<br /> <br /> <b>Results</b><br /> Our results show that perceived social support is a partial mediator of the relationship between the sense of loss associated with divorce and the psychological well-being of individuals after divorce. For the vast majority of the respondents their parents, friends and acquaintances were the major source of support. About one third of the participants were given support by their siblings and their own children.<br /> <br /> <b>Conclusions</b><br /> The study confirms the mediating role of support in building well-being after experiencing loss related to dissolution of marriage. This means that for divorced women and men perceived social support is one of the key resources that have a significant impact on achieving psychological well-being after divorce, since it is related to mitigating the negative impact of the sense of loss associated with marriage break-up.

Sense of coherence and psychological well-being in cardiac patients: Is the association mediated by self-efficacy?

“…These results highlight the significance of one's ability to recognize life stressors and effectively utilize coping with them in order to maintain relatively good health. These results are in line with the reports of Kołodziej-Zaleska and Przybyła-Basista [44] or Piedmont, Magyr-Russell, DiLella, & Matter [45], concerning the importance of sense of coherence in difficult life situations. A feeling of confidence in life seems to enhance well-being of a person [17].…”

Randomized controlled trial study of the effects of an online divorce platform on anxiety, depression, and somatization.

“…Specifically, by being a digital platform, members of the intervention group could access the content repeatedly and ondemand at their convenience, which could have increased usage of, satisfaction with, and exposure to the intervention material (Andersson et al, 2019;Dennis & Ebata, 2005;Turner et al, DIGITAL DIVORCE INTERVENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH 22 2019). Further, participants could tailor their usage to their individual needs which may prove key in successful online divorce interventions as divorcees' needs may differ or change substantially during their first year post-divorce (Kołodziej-Zaleska & Przybyła-Basista, 2016;Malgaroli et al, 2017;Symoens, Bastaits, Mortelmans, & Bracke, 2013). Finally, the content of the intervention platform targets well-known and studied challenges that divorcees face as well as provide guidance for attitudinal and behavioral change to better cope with these.…”

Cooperation after Divorce: An RCT Study of the Effects of a Digital Intervention Platform on Self-Perceived Stress

“…Finally, this study did not investigate all plausible mediators and moderators of the intervention effects, for example, individual differences such as personality or divorce-related characteristics. As intervention effects in the area of divorce research may be related to individual differences and/or divorce characteristics (Amato, 2000;Dalton et al, 2003;Kołodziej-Zaleska & Przybyła-Basista, 2016;Malgaroli et al, 2017;Symoens et al, 2013), future studies should include mediation analysis and test plausible moderators to examine the intervention effects of CAD on perceived stress symptoms.…”

“…This indicates that although adverse effects of divorce, such as stress, may be sensitive to a 'time heals' effect (Hald et al, in press;Thuen, 2001), whereby perceived stress naturally declining over time, to many divorcees post-divorce life remains stressful (Amato, 2014;Booth & Amato, 1991;Strohschein, 2005). This may be due to co-parenting, fewer financial resources, change of living condition, altered social status, loss of social support, and (eventually) new partners and new family members with stepfamilies being introduced (e.g., Kołodziej-Zaleska & Przybyła-Basista, 2016;Leopold, 2018;Perrig-Chiello et al, 2015). Accordingly, the development and effect testing of interventions which targets the divorcee's experience of stress over time is of public health relevance especially considering that prolonged levels of high stress can detrimentally affect healthrelated outcomes and be a significant financial burden to society (Budtz-Lilly et al, 2015;Fink & Rosendal, 2015).…”