Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP)

The Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP) is a supportive, small-group preventive intervention designed to reduce the stress of family transitions and foster children's resilience and healthy adjustment to changes in family structure. The program is based on two central components: group support and training in social competence. CODIP helps children identify and express feelings, share experiences, form bonds with peers, enhance positive perceptions of self and family, and increase their capacity to cope with challenging changes associated with divorce.

The structured, sequential, 12- to 15-session intervention is co-led by mental health professionals. Four different CODIP curricula are tailored to the developmental needs and emotional reactions of children from kindergarten through eighth grade. Each curriculum has been field-tested and carefully evaluated with children of different ages and sociodemographic backgrounds. The program's effectiveness has been demonstrated in six different controlled studies with children in urban, suburban, and rural settings.

The program's five main goals are to (1) foster a safe, supportive group environment; (2) facilitate the identification and expression of divorce-related feelings; (3) promote understanding of divorce-related concepts and clarify misconceptions; (4) teach effective coping and interpersonal skills; and (5) enhance positive perceptions of self and family.

The original study involved a quasi-experimental design that included 102 kindergarten and first grade children from five schools in the Rochester, N.Y., area. Overall, the evaluation produced evidence to suggest that the shared group support in conjunction with training in essential coping skills can have a significant and lasting impact on children's adjustment after divorce. The follow-up study found that children who had demonstrated significantly greater gains in adjustment at posttesting maintained those improvements during the follow-up period. Teacher ratings (blind to the condition), parent interviews, child self-reports, and school health data showed that program children had less anxiety and fewer classroom adjustment problems and visits to the school health office than divorce controls. Moreover, divorce controls demonstrated continued signs of risk such as adjustment problems at home and at school.

The follow-up study did have several limitations. First, the two groups were not randomly assigned to a condition, thus self-selection may account for the significant difference for Es and DCs on time since separation. However, program effects remained significant when time since separation was controlled in subsequent analyses. Next, the study maintained a small, homogeneous sample consisting of primarily white, middle class subjects. Moreover, parents of program children knew of their children's participation and may have had more investment in portraying a positive picture.