It got me thinking: The impact of participating in a divorce decision-making interview

Abstract

Although there is literature documenting the reasons for and outcomes of divorce, there is limited research about the divorce decision-making process. Researchers with the National Divorce Decision-Making Project interviewed (n = 30) people in the process of making a divorce decision. One year later they conducted a second interview (n = 22) with the same sample to track any changes in participants' divorce ideation. The current study reports on the results of a thematic analysis of participants' responses to the final question, “How did the initial interview impact your thinking about the future of your marriage?” Three salient themes emerged from the data: (1) talking got me thinking, (2) thinking got me acting, and (3) the conversation was (surprisingly) therapeutic. The authors highlight possible clinical implications and directions for future research.