JUDICIAL ENVOLVEMENT, INTERVENTIONS, AND OUTCOMES FOR ABUSED MOTHERS GOING THROUGH DIVORCE

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1001407
• Project Start Date: Oct 31, 2013
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2018
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
2001 S. Lincoln Ave.
URBANA,IL 61801

Performing Department
Human And Community Development

Non Technical Summary
In 2007, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) convened a group of leading intimate partner violence (IPV) scholars and practitioners to develop consensus points for improving service to families. The group concluded that appropriate decisions regarding child custody must take into account the major differences among types of IPV. Johnson (2008) identifies two major types of IPV (coercive controlling violence, situational couple violence), and a subtype of situational couple violence (separation-instigated violence), that is often encountered in the family court setting. Differences among the three major types are well established by research conducted by different researchers, using different measures, with different sampling frames, in different countries. These distinctions are important because families experiencing different types of IPV likely have different patterns of judicial involvement and probably require different interventions. To the best of my knowledge, no studies have distinguished among types of IPV in a sample of divorcing mothers to examine how they relate to judicial involvement, interventions, and legal (e.g., custody decisions) and adjustment (e.g., depression) outcomes. Toward this end, the current study expands upon an existing dataset of 195 divorcing mothers from rural and suburban communities in central Illinois to examine (1) how patterns of judicial involvement prior to and during the divorce process vary by type of IPV and (2) whether type of IPV is associated with different interventions and outcomes over time. Understanding potential differences by type of IPV is important for developing informed legal interventions that prioritize both the safety and long-term adjustment of mothers affected by IPV. Informed decision making is particularly important in rural communities where courts' resources are taxed.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

50%

Applied

50%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
802	6020	3080	80%
805	6050	3050	20%

Knowledge Area
805 - Community Institutions, Health, and Social Services; 802 - Human Development and Family Well-Being;

Subject Of Investigation
6020 - The family and its members; 6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3050 - Law; 3080 - Sociology;

Keywords

intimate partner violence

child custody

rural communities

judicial involvement

Goals / Objectives
The objectives of the proposed study are to explore the extent to which different types of IPV are associated with different patterns of judicial involvement, interventions, and legal outcomes over time and how these patterns relate to ongoing threats to mothers' safety and adjustment. The specific objectives are: 1. to identify the nature and extent of divorcing mothers' judicial involvement in the year prior to filing for divorce and during the divorce process. Judicial involvement is defined broadly to include any formal involvement with the courts or legal system, such as filing for a protective order, filing a police report, or ongoing custody disputes; 2. to examine whether patterns of judicial involvement vary by type of IPV, including comparisons among coercive controlling violence, situational couple violence, and no violence; 3. to explore whether type of IPV is associated with different interventions (e.g., participating in divorce mediation) and legal outcomes (e.g., custody decisions, child support orders, length of divorce process); and 4. to examine the effects of these patterns on divorcing mothers safety and adjustment over time. Furthermore, the proposed study will explore the experiences of both rural and suburban women. Studies document the unique barriers to safety (e.g., transportation, isolation) and lack of services available to rural abused women, but researchers have not examined these barriers as they relate to type of IPV and judicial involvement. Thus, comparisons between rural and suburban context will be made throughout the above research questions.

Project Methods
The proposed study will expand upon two existing studies on coparenting after separation, The Co-Parenting (CoP) Project (supported by the PI's prior Hatch Grant) and the Mothers' and Kids' Experiences in Transition (Make It) Project (supported by the PI's NICHD grant). For both studies, mothers were recruited via public divorce records from a large county in one Midwestern state. Recently filed (i.e., within the last 12 weeks) divorce records were obtained. From the information in the divorce records, it was determined if women named in a divorce filing met the study inclusion criteria: 1) had been physically separated for less than three years, 2) had at least one child under the age of 18 with their partner named in the divorce filing, and 3) had at least 25% time with their child(ren). Mothers were eligible to participate whether they or their partners filed for divorce. After mailing letters inviting mothers to participate, follow-up phone calls were made to potential participants. Contact was made with 291 potential participants; 259 agreed to participate, but only 195 of those who agreed to participate met the study criteria, all of which completed the first interview. Follow up interviews were conducted 3 months after the first interview for both CoP and Make It participants, and 6, 9, and 12 months following the first interview for Make It participants. Mothers were 20 to 54 years old (M = 35.3) and predominantly White (n = 153, 78.5%). Twenty-five (12.8%) identified as Black or African American, seven (3.6%) as Asian or Asian American, four (2.1%) as Latino or Hispanic, and six (3.1%) as "other. Mothers' individual average annual income at the time of the interview ranged from less than $6,000 to over $80,000 (M = $21,000) and 147 (75.4%) were employed at least part-time. They had between one and four children (M = 1.75), ranging in age from less than 8 months to 17 years old (M = 13.4 years). Types of IPV included coercive controlling violence (n = 92), situational couple violence (n = 29), and no violence/no control (n = 44). There were also 30 mothers who reported high control but no violence, which has received very little attention in the literature. We will include these mothers for exploratory purposes. In Year 1, a protocol will be developed and finalized for documenting divorcing mothers' judicial involvement in the year prior to and during separation as well as for the duration of their participation in the CoP and Make It Projects. These records have already been accessed as part of the ongoing projects but these specific data were not a primary focus and thus were not systematically recorded across all cases over the duration of data collection; the protocol will be used to fill in missing information (e.g., final custody decisions) and to verify existing information in our records (e.g., past protective orders). Both projects have IRB approval that covers the activities proposed in the current project (we are not proposing any new human subjects activities that would need separate approval). Also in Year 1, RAs will trained in assigning community context codes (i.e., rural or suburban) to each participant. This will involve matching participant zip codes to U.S. Census data to determine rural vs. suburban classifications. In Year 2, RAs will complete collection of the above data and this information then will be used to address objective #1; descriptive information will be reported on the nature and extent of judicial involvement. To address objective #2, associations among types of IPV and judicial involvement will be examined using ANOVAs. For example, associations will be examined among type of IPV and length of divorce process, whether protective orders were sought, whether an attorney was hired, whether these associations vary by rural or suburban community context, etc. The same approach will be used to examine associations among types of IPV and interventions (e.g., participating in divorce mediation; being mandated to batterers' treatment as condition of visitation) and legal outcomes (e.g., custody decisions; child support orders). Analyses will be conducted for both the combined CoP and Make datasets (for results across 2 time points) and with Make It alone (for results across 5 time points). In Year 3, we will address objective #4. Multivariate analyses will be used to examine how patterns of judicial involvement, interventions, and legal outcomes relate to safety and adjustment outcomes for mothers over time. This analysis will be conducted using only Make It data to maximize the number of available time points. Finally, safety and adjustment outcomes as they relate to judicial involvement, interventions, and legal outcomes will also be examined.

Progress 10/31/13 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the study is mothers who coparent after separation, including those who do and do not experience intimate partner violence. Results will be relevant to professionals working with mothers in the process of divorce, including family court judges, family law attorneys, custody evaluators, and parent educators. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have delivered peer-reviewed conference presentations that target relationship, family, and legal professionals. We have published manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals in the fields of family studies and violence against women. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This study expands upon two existing studies on co-parenting after separation, the Co-Parenting (CoP) Project (supported by the PI's prior Hatch Grant) and the Mothers' and Kids' Experiences in Transition (Make It) Project (supported by the PI's NICHD grant). For both studies, mothers were recruited via public divorce records from a large county in one Midwestern state. Recently filed (i.e., within the last 12 weeks) divorce records were obtained. The current study is contributing to existing empirical knowledge by explicating the role of different types of violence in different patterns of judicial involvement among our sample of divorcing mothers with and without a history of violence. Findings will inform efforts to appropriately match legal interventions and services to the diverse needs of divorcing parents. At present, we have completed divorce data extraction guides for 620 cases. We have entered and compared data for approximately 80% of these cases. We have completed data collection for the 122 cases involving prior orders of protection and are in the process of entering and checking these data. Of the 150 cases with prior criminal records, we are in the process of extracting these data. Preliminary analyses have been presented at international and national professional conferences and suggest important differences based on type of IPV. Once data collection, entry, and checking are complete for all case records, we will begin analyses with the full dataset. Findings will be presented at conferences, published in peer reviewed journals, and made available to local and national family court professionals.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hardesty, J.L., Ogolsky, B.G., Maniotes, C.R., Theisen, J.C. and Park, S. 2018. Self-reported IPV among divorcing mothers: When is it documented in divorce cases and when does it matter? Invited paper presented at the annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations, San Diego, CA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Whittaker, A., Theisen, J.C., Hardesty, J.L. and Ogolsky, B. 2018. Conceal or reveal: A comparison of mothers self-reports and court documentation of child exposure to IPV. Poster presented at the biannual International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference, Portsmouth, NH.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Park, S. and Hardesty, J.L. 2018. Domestic violence and child custody: Case studies of immigrant parents experiences in family court. Poster presented at the biannual International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference, Portsmouth, NH.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ogolsky, B.G., Hardesty, J.L., Theisen, J.C., Maniotes, C.R., Park, S. and Chong, J.Y. 2018. The influence of intimate partner violence on child custody decisions following divorce: Comparing self-reported and court-documented relationship experiences. Paper presented at the biannual conference of the International Association of Relationship Research, Fort Collins, CO.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hardesty, J.L., Ogolsky, B.G., Raffaelli, M. and Whittaker, A. 2019. Relationship dynamics and divorcing mothers adjustment: Moderating role of marital violence, negative life events, and social support. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (Under Review).

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the study is mothers who co-parent after separation, including those who do and do not experience intimate partner violence. Results will be relevant to professionals working with mothers in the process of divorce, including family court judges, family law attorneys, custody evaluators, and parent educators. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In Year Five, we will complete our systematic extraction of court record data across all cases and enter and clean all data. Once data entry is complete, we will use this information to address Objective #1 to provide descriptive information on the nature and extent of judicial involvement of divorcing mothers with and without a history of intimate partner violence. We will also begin prepping data to address the remaining objectives.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This study expands upon two existing studies on co-parenting after separation, the Co-Parenting (CoP) Project (supported by the PI's prior Hatch Grant) and the Mothers' and Kids' Experiences in Transition (Make It) Project (supported by the PI's NICHD grant). For both studies, mothers were recruited via public divorce records from a large county in one Midwestern state. Recently filed (i.e., within the last 12 weeks) divorce records were obtained. The current study is contributing to existing empirical knowledge by explicating the role of different types of violence in different patterns of judicial involvement among our sample of divorcing mothers with and without a history of violence. Findings will inform efforts to appropriately match legal interventions and services to the diverse needs of divorcing parents. At present, we have completed divorce data extraction guides for all cases (N = 472) and we have entered and compared data for 400 of these cases. Of the 122 cases involving prior orders of protection, we have completed 115 of the protection order data extraction guides. Of the 150 cases with prior criminal records, we are in the process of obaining arrests records (available only for divorce cases in 2010 and after). Finally, we have coded narrative data contained in orders of protection and in arrest reports for 40 cases.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Crossman, K. A. and Hardesty, J.L. 2017. Placing coercive control at the center: What are the processes of coercive control and what makes control coercive? Psychology of Violence. Advance online publication. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/vio0000094.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hardesty, J.L., Ogolsky, B.G., Raffaelli, M., Whittaker, A., Crossman, K.A., Haselschwerdt, M.L., Mitchell, E.T. and Khaw, L. 2017. Coparenting relationship trajectories: Marital violence linked to change and variability after separation. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(7), 844-854. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000323.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Whittaker, A., Ogolsky, B., Hardesty, J.L. and Raffaelli, M. 2017. Health outcomes among divorcing mothers with different histories of IPV. Poster presented at the annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations, Orlando, FL.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Crossman, K.A., Whittaker, A., Hardesty, J.L. and Theisen, J.C. 2017. Womens experiences with battering scale  What does it really measure? Paper presented at the annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations, Orlando, FL.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the study is mothers who co-parent after separation, including those who do and do not experience intimate partner violence. Results will be relevant to professionals working with mothers in the process of divorce, including family court judges, family law attorneys, custody evaluators, and parent educators. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In Year 4, we will continue to systematically extract data across all cases (e.g., final custody decisions) and verify existing information obtained in our prior studies using the same sample (e.g., past protective orders). We will also train RAs in assigning community context codes (i.e., rural or suburban) to each participant. This will involve matching participant zip codes to U.S. Census data to determine rural vs. suburban classifications. RAs will complete collection of the above data and this information then will be used to address Objective #1 to provide descriptive information on the nature and extent of judicial involvement of divorcing mothers with and without a history of intimate partner violence. We will being prepping data to address the remaining objectives in Year 5.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This study expands upon two existing studies on coparenting after separation, the Co-Parenting (CoP) Project (supported by the PI's prior Hatch Grant) and the Mothers' and Kids' Experiences in Transition (Make It) Project (supported by the PI's NICHD grant). For both studies, mothers were recruited via public divorce records from a large county in one Midwestern state. Recently filed (i.e., within the last 12 weeks) divorce records were obtained. The current study is contributing to existing empirical knowledge by explicating the role of different types of violence in different patterns of judicial involvement among our sample of divorcing mothers with and without a history of violence. Findings will inform efforts to appropriately match legal interventions and services to the diverse needs of divorcing parents. At present, we have completed comprehensive online and paper data extration procedures with a sample of 120 divorce cases and complete divorce record data has been collected for 50 mothers. Data extraction procedures are also being refined for additional cases in which one or both spouses were involved in the filing of a civil order of protection, charged in a criminal case, or involved in a family court case. Efforts in Year 2 and 3 supported proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice to expand our research protocol. These proposals werefunded by the two agencies with funding beginning in August 2016.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hardesty, J.L., Crossman, K.A., Khaw, L. and Raffaelli, M. 2016. Marital violence and coparenting quality after separation. Journal of Family Psychology, 30(3), 320-330. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000132.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Haselschwerdt, M.L., Mitchell, E.T., Raffaelli, M. and Hardesty, J.L. 2016. Divorcing mothers use of protective strategies: Differences over time and by violence experience. Psychology of Violence, 6(1), 182-192. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039444.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Nielsen, S.K., Hardesty, J.L. and Raffaelli, M. 2016. Exploring variations within situational couple violence and comparisons with coercive controlling violence and no violence/no control. Violence Against Women, 22(2), 206-224. doi: 10.1177/1077801215599842.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Crossman, K.A., Hardesty, J.L. and Raffaelli, M. 2016. He could scare me without laying a hand on me: Mothers experiences of nonviolent coercive control during marriage and after separation. Violence Against Women, 22(4), 454-473. doi: 10.1177/1077801215604744
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Whittaker, A., Mitchell, E.T., Raffaelli, M. and Hardesty, J.L. 2016. Youth adjustment after parental separation: Impact of marital violence. Poster accepted for presentation at the annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations, Minneapolis, MN.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Crossman, K.A., Whittaker, A. and Hardesty, J.L. 2016. Safely recruiting and retaining divorcing women in IPV research: Methodological successes and pitfalls. Poster presented at the bi-annual International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference. Portsmouth, NH.

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the study is mothers who coparent after separation, including those who do and do not experience intimate partner violence. Results will be relevant to professionals working wtih mothers in the process of divorce, including family court judges, family law attorneys, parent educators, and health care providers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In Year 3, we will systematically extract data across all cases (e.g., final custody decisions) and verify existing information obtained in our prior studies using the same sample (e.g., past protective orders). We will also train RAs in assigning community context codes (i.e., rural or suburban) to each participant. This will involve matching participant zip codes to U.S. Census data to determine rural vs. suburban classifications. RAs will complete collection of the above data and this information then will be used to address objective #1 to provide descriptive information on the nature and extent of judicial involvement of divorcing mothers with and without a history of intimate partner violence. We will being prepping data to address the remaining objectives in Year 4.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This study expands upon two existing studies on coparenting after separation, the Co-Parenting (CoP) Project (supported by the PI's prior Hatch Grant) and the Mothers' and Kids' Experiences in Transition (Make It) Project (supported by the PI's NICHD grant). For both studies, mothers were recruited via public divorce records from a large county in one Midwestern state. Recently filed (i.e., within the last 12 weeks) divorce records were obtained. The current study will contribute to existing empirical knowledge by explicating the role of different types of violence in different patterns of judicial involvement among our sample of divorcing mothers with and without a history of violence. Findings will inform efforts to appropriately match legal interventions and services to the diverse needs of divorcing parents. At present, we continue to refine online and paper data extration procedures with a sample of 120 divorce cases. Data extraction procedures are also being refined for additional cases in which one or both spouses were involved in the filing of a civil order of protection, charged in a criminal case, or involved in a family court case. These efforts in Year 2 have supported proposals submitted to two funding agencies to expand our research protocol in Year 3.

Publications

Progress 10/31/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for the study is mothers who coparent after separation, including those who do and do not experience intimate partner violence. Results will be relevant to professionals working with mothers in the process of divorce, including family court judges, family law attorneys, parenteducators, and health care providers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? After finalizing our data extraction protocol, we will devote Year 2 to completing data collection. This will involve systematically extracting data across all cases (e.g., final custody decisions) and verifying existing information obtained in our prior studies using the same sample (e.g., past protective orders). We will also train RAs in assigning community context codes (i.e., rural or suburban) to each participant. This will involve matching participant zip codes to U.S. Census data to determine rural vs. suburban classifications. RAs will complete collection of the above data and this information then will be used to address objective #1 to provide descriptive information on the nature and extent of judicial involvement of divorcing mothers with and without a history of intimate partner violence. We will begin prepping data to address the remaining objectives in Year 3.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This study expands upon two existing studies on coparenting after separation, the Co-Parenting (CoP) Project (supported by the PI's prior Hatch Grant) and the Mothers' and Kids' Experiences in Transition (Make It) Project (supported by the PI's NICHD grant). For both studies, mothers were recruited via public divorce records from a large county in one Midwestern state. Recently filed (i.e., within the last 12 weeks) divorce records were obtained. The current study will contribute to existing empirical knowledge by explicating the role of different types of violence in different patterns of judicial involvement among our sample of divorcing mothers with and without a history of violence. Findings will inform efforts to appropriately match legal interventions and services to the diverse needs of divorcing parents. At present, we have piloted online and paper data extraction procedures with 50 divorce cases. Data extraction procedures were also piloted for an additional 15 divorce cases each in which one or both spouses were involved in the filing of a civil order of protection, charged in a criminal case, or involved in a family court case.

Publications