In addition, interviews in each survey year contained a series of items
that explored how people assessed their lives. Examples of statements included
“I’ve pretty much gotten what I expected out of life,” “When I think
about the things I really want to achieve in life, I’m worried that I don’t
have enough years left to get them done,” and “When I look back at my
life, I am fairly well satisfied” (1 = disagree strongly, 4 = agree strongly).
Items were scored in the direction of positive life appraisals, and the mean
response served as the scale score for that year (α = 0.82). To take advantage
of the longitudinal nature of our data, we calculated the difference between
each person’s scores in the interviews preceding and following the
divorce, with a positive score reflected a more positive view of one’s life
following divorce and a negative score reflected a more negative view of
one’s life following divorce. Scores on the life appraisal scale correlated at
r = 0.15 (p < .05) with general divorce adjustment and r = –0.26 (p < .001)
with attachment to the former spouse.