15 Year Follow-up of New Beginnings Program for Divorced Families

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The project is a 15-year follow-up of 240 young adults whose families participated in an experimental evaluation of the New Beginnings Program (NBP), a preventive intervention for divorced families. The NBP was provided in late childhood; the follow-up occurred in young adulthood. Families were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: mother program (MP), dual-component mother and child program (MPCP), or literature-control (LC) condition. Programs were designed to change several putative mediators of children's post-divorce mental health problems using empirically-supported change strategies. The investigators expected that the NBP would have either main or risk by program interactive effects on mental health and substance use problems and disorders, developmental tasks, parent-young adult relationships, physical health problems, and competencies, such that YAs who participated in NBP will have better functioning than YAs in the control condition. The investigators expected that the NBP will have either main or risk by program interactive effects on mothers' mental health; those in the NBP are expected to have fewer mental health problems than those in the control condition.

Official Title
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Effects of NBP for Children of Divorce 15 Years Later

Conditions
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Mental Disorder, Substance Use

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: New Beginnings Program


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Divorced in past two years Female residential parent At least one 9-12 year-old child resided (at least 50%) with the mother Neither mother nor any child was currently in treatment for mental health problems Mother had not remarried nor planned to remarry during the program, and did not have a live-in boyfriend Custody was expected to remain stable Family resided within an hour drive of program site Mother and child could complete assessments in English Child was not learning disabled nor in special education If diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, child was taking medication Exclusion Criteria: Child scored above 17 on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI, endorsed an item indicating that s/he wanted to kill her/himself, or scored above the 97th percentile on the Externalizing Subscale (Child Behavior Checklist [CBCL])

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 9 Years
Maximum Age: 12 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Mother Program<br>11 session program focused on parenting skills | Behavioral: New Beginnings Program<br>* A preventive intervention for divorced families.<br>|
| Experimental: Mother Plus Child Program<br>11 session Mother Program focused on parenting skills plus 11 session Child program focused on child coping skills | Behavioral: New Beginnings Program<br>* A preventive intervention for divorced families.<br>|
| No Intervention: Literature Control<br>Families received books on children's post-divorce adjustment | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Diagnosis of mental health disorder | Incidence and number of internalizing, externalizing, and substance use disorders with onset of symptoms within the last nine years. | 15 year follow-up | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Young Adult Substance Use | Frequency of substance use past month, and age of onset of regular drinking. | 15 year follow-up | 
| Internalizing and Externalizing Problems | Number of internalizing and externalizing problems during the past 6 months | 15 Year follow-up | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Prevention, Divorce