| Scope and Method of Study. This study investigated the public's attitudes on the outcomes of divorce. It was proposed that the typical 50% rejection rate of predivorce mediation is a chance occurrence. It was further proposed that the public is predisposed to expect a certain outcome in divorce settlement. Nonuniversity adults were recruited as volunteers who responded to one of five different questionnaires. The first of these forms requested that subjects state their expectation for an outcome, and also state their preference for an outcome. The remaining four forms varied the presentation of a divorce scenario by differing the presence of children and property.; Findings and Conclusions. Subjects' responses to the first form supported the hypothesis that there are public predispositions about divorce. Although the majority of respondents expected that the husband would get neither child custody nor the bulk of the estate, subject preferences were for a more equal sharing. This preference, however, was more consistently shown by subjects recommending divorce mediation rather than the adversary approach. Involvement of children and financial problems did not affect responses. No support was demonstrated for the models of divorce mediation that suggest financial resolution should precede custody issues. |
