Post-divorce wellbeing in Flanders: facilitative professionals and quality of arrangements matter

Expanding on current advancements in divorce and dispute resolution research, an integrative, and process-oriented model is presented. The primary purpose is to investigate how pre-trajectory, trajectory, and arrangement factors are related to post-divorce personal wellbeing. To this end, questionnaire-data were collected in two sessions from a representative sample of Flemish divorcing persons (n=469 and n=117). A series of multiple regression analyses demonstrated that post-divorce wellbeing was directly related to divorce trajectory characteristics. Facilitative problem solving behaviors of the intervening professional and his or her Rogerian personal qualities contributed significantly to the personal well-being of divorced people. In addition, post-divorce wellbeing was positively influenced by the quality of the divorce arrangements. The impartiality of the professional, the option to divorce through mediation or litigation, with or without mutual consent, the initiator-status, and pre-divorce conflict levels all didn‟t produce significant effects. The limitations and practical implications for divorce practice are discussed.