Under Missouri law, almost all parents with minor children who divorce, seek custody or a divorce modification are required to attend a parenting class. The mean age was 33.68 years. All parents were asked whether they had purchased or borrowed books on divorce for themselves or their children before attending the Focus on Kids class. Usage of books increased with educational level. Callaway County participants had an average age of 34.27 compared to Randolph County's 33.33 years.
Education appears to be more significant to book usage than income.
The education and income distributions suggest education is a major factor in self-help book utilization by divorcing parents , but income also is a factor . Additional factors were not investigated in the current evaluation. Slightly more than one-fourth of those with children ages 3 to 14 reported using books. Also considered were the respondents' relationships with the divorcing spouses and the respondents' perception of the divorcing spouses' relationships to them. One hypothesis is the relationship with the ex-spouse influences the likelihood of using books.