Back to Search Start Over

Make up or break up? Charting the well-being of low-income help-seeking couples through the breakup process

Authors :
Brian D. Doss
Yunying Le
S. Gabe Hatch
Source :
Journal of Family Psychology. 35:1107-1116
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
American Psychological Association (APA), 2021.

Abstract

Divorce or separation concerns have typically been identified as a common reason why couples seek treatment for their relationship. However, to our knowledge, no study has investigated the breakup process in a help-seeking sample. Using a low-income sample of individuals who broke up with their partner during a large randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of two web-based relationship education programs (NBroke up = 286), and a matched sample of individuals who did not break up (NMatched = 286; NTotal = 572), the current study sought to: (a) examine changes in individual functioning and co-parenting among those who broke up; (b) examine post-breakup differences in changes between those who did and did not break up; and (c) identify moderators of any differential post-breakup functioning between those who did and did not break up. Results revealed that web-based relationship education leads to decreases in psychological and perceived stress prior to the breakup. After matching on pre-breakup characteristics, no post-breakup differences in individual functioning or co-parenting were found between those who did and did not break up. Furthermore, few variables moderated individuals' adjustment to breaking up. Therefore, breaking up may not be as detrimental to individual well-being as once anticipated. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Details

ISSN :
19391293 and 08933200
Volume :
35
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Family Psychology
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....62f41d4b38b9d87add523c5d5a44f7d5
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000859