Divorce transition, coping responses, and health-promoting behavior of midlife women

The study's purposes were (a) to explore the experiences of midlife women living the divorce transition as initiators, non-initiators, and mutual-deciders; (b) to examine the differences in coping responses of midlife women in the divorce transition as initiators, non initiators, and mutual deciders; and (c) to examine the differences in health promoting behavior of midlife women in the divorce transition as initiators, non-initiators, and mutual-deciders. Feminist principles, Transition Framework (Schlossberg, Waters, & Goodman, 1995), and the Health Promotion Model (Pender 1996) provided the theoretical orientation for the comparative, descriptive design and simultaneous methodological triangulation (Morse, 1991). Using purposive and network sampling from divorce support groups and court records in Northeastern Indiana and Western Pennsylvania, the sampling criteria included: women 34--54 years, divorce ending a first marriage, married three years prior to divorce, and divorce finalized within two years of initial researcher contact. Participants were self-selected into three decider status groups: initiators, non-initiators, and mutual deciders.; Data collection occurred in two phases; informed consent was obtained prior to each phase. Phase I (N = 154) mailings collected self-report data using the Coping Responses Inventory-Adult Form (Moos, 1993) and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (Walker, Sechrist, & Pender, 1987). Phase II collected interview data (n = 24) from early participants using a standardized open-ended Divorce Transition Interview Guide. A Personal Profile Form collected demographic data.; Qualitative analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994) with QSR NUDIST 4.0 identified initiator's themes of self-focused growth, optimism, and social support losses and opportunities; non-initiator's themes of being left, ruminating, vulnerability, and spiritual comfort; and mutual-decider's single theme of optimism. Shared themes were new roles, depression, coping, promoting better health, and new relationships. Quantitative analysis using SPSS 10.0 involved descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA's. The decider status groups did not differ significantly in health-promoting behavior. Acceptance or resignation, a coping response, demonstrated significance differences between the non-initiators and the mutual-deciders (p = .04). Triangulation identified that qualitative findings were confirmed quantitatively for health-promoting behavior, but not coping responses.