Divorce mediation outcome research: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Results vary across divorce mediation and litigation outcome studies. Because a quantitative review has never been performed on this body of research, the present study conducts a meta-analysis on this literature. From five studies that met the established inclusion criteria, it was found that mediation produced a grand effect size of 0.36. This small-to-moderate effect size reveals that across the included studies mediation is a beneficial alternative to litigation for divorcing couples. Dependent variables measuring process satisfaction, outcome satisfaction, emotional satisfaction, spousal relationship, and understanding children's needs were aggregated across the studies, rendering moderate positive effect size.