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Attendance Trajectory Classes Among Divorced and Separated Mothers and Fathers in the New Beginnings Program

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Abstract

We examined attendance trajectories among mothers and fathers in the effectiveness trial of the New Beginnings Program, a parenting-focused prevention program for divorced and separated parents. We also investigated attendance trajectory class differences on two sets of pretest covariates: one set previously linked to participation in programs not specifically targeting divorced parents (i.e., sociodemographics, perceived parenting skills, child problem behaviors, parent psychological distress) and another that might be particularly salient to participation in the context of divorce (i.e., interparental conflict, level of parent-child contact, previous marital status to the ex-spouse). For mothers and fathers, results supported four attendance trajectory classes: (1) non-attenders (NA), (2) early dropouts (ED), (3) declining attenders (DA), and (4) sustained attenders (SA). In the final model testing multiple covariates simultaneously, mothers who were EDs and DAs were more likely to be Latina than SAs, and EDs reported more interparental conflict than SAs. Mother trajectory groups did not differ on parenting skills, child problem behavior, or mother-child contact in the final or preliminary models. In the final model for fathers, EDs rated their children higher on externalizing than DAs, had less contact with their children than DAs and NAs, and reported less distress than SAs. Father trajectory groups did not differ on fathers’ age, ethnicity, income, perceived parenting skills, or interparental conflict in the final or preliminary models. Results highlight qualitatively distinct latent classes of mothers and fathers who disengage from a parenting intervention at various points. We discuss implications for intervention engagement strategies and translational science.

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Notes

  1. Because very few non-Latino parents reported races other than White (16 fathers and 23 mothers) and we could not justify hypotheses about this heterogeneous subsample of parents, we tested the sociodemographic covariates while including and excluding these parents. The results reported are based on the full sample because excluding non-Latino parents who reported races other than White did not appreciably change the results.

  2. We chose to reduce the number of covariates entered into the final model, though we could have entered all 12 covariates simultaneously or interpreted the results from the models testing conceptually-related covariates (see Tables B1 and B2 in the online appendix). Although we developed hypotheses about the attendance classes and covariates related to the attendance classes, the analyses reported in this paper are largely exploratory. The formation of attendance classes was data-driven, and we tested several covariates potentially related to the attendance classes because very little research focuses on father initiation and retention in parenting interventions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, REACH Institute, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA

    Anne M. Mauricio, Gina L. Mazza, Cady Berkel, Jenn-Yun Tein, Irwin N. Sandler, Sharlene A. Wolchik & Emily Winslow

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  1. Anne M. Mauricio
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  2. Gina L. Mazza
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  3. Cady Berkel
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  6. Sharlene A. Wolchik
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Correspondence to Anne M. Mauricio.

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Funding

Development and evaluation of the New Beginnings Program (NBP), including the data collected and used in this study, were supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse grant R01 DA026874.

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

Drs. Sandler and Wolchik are the developers of the NBP; Drs. Mauricio and Berkel have a grant (R01DA033991) to study implementation of the NBP; Drs. Sandler, Wolchik, Tein, Berkel, and Winslow were involved in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the NBP program. The authors declare that they have no other conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All study procedures and measures were reviewed and approved by the Arizona State University Institutional Review Board. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants in this study and assent was obtained from minors included in the study.

Additional information

This study was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse grant R01 DA026874.

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Mauricio, A.M., Mazza, G.L., Berkel, C. et al. Attendance Trajectory Classes Among Divorced and Separated Mothers and Fathers in the New Beginnings Program. Prev Sci 19, 620–629 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-017-0783-3

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