The role of guilt in the perception of divorce settlements depends on the divorce procedure

Abstract

Little is known about the factors that influence satisfactory divorce settlements. We assumed that feelings of guilt toward the former partner might - directly or indirectly - be one of these factors. Feelings of guilt, which often occur in divorce, elicit cooperative negotiation behaviour. We hypothesised that guilt, mediated by cooperative negotiation behaviour, would be related to participants' subjective appraisals of their divorce settlements. Furthermore, we predieted that this relation would be moderated by the divorce procedure (i.e., litigated divorce or consensual divorce) followed by the participants. We used survey data of 166 participants who were in the process of divorcing. Guilt was assessed at outset, as was negotiation behaviour at one year, and appraisals of divorce settlements at two years. Participants in the litigated divorce group appraised their settlements less positively than participants in the consensual group. In this group guilt was directly and indirectly (through yielding negotiation behaviour) negatively related to appraisals of personal aspects of settlements. In contrast, guilt was indirectly (through yielding negotiation behavlour) positively related to appraisals of factual aspects of settlements in the consensual divorce group.