Adolescents after Divorce - Hardcover

Buchanan, Christy M

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674005171 ISBN 13: 9780674005174

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1996

Synopsis

When their parents divorce, some children falter and others thrive. This book asks why. Is it the custody arrangements? A parent's new partner? Conflicts or consistency between the two households? "Adolescents After Divorce" follows children from 1100 divorcing families to discover what makes the difference. Focusing on a period beginning four years after the divorce, the authors have the help of their subjects in exploring the altered conditions of their lives. These teenagers come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are functioning well. Some are faring poorly. The authors examine the full variety of situations in which these children find themselves once the initial disruption has passed - whether parents remarry or repartner, how parents relate to each other and to their children, and how life in two homes is integrated. Certain findings emerge - for instance, we see that remarried new partners were better accepted than cohabiting new partners. And when parents' relations are amicable, adolescents in dual custody are less likely than other adolescents to experience loyalty conflicts. The authors also consider the effects of visitation arrangements, the demands made and the goals set within each home, and the emotional closeness of the residential parent to the child.

About this title

Review:

Buchanan et al. have produced a benchmark study of the true victims of divorce: children living with its aftermath. " "Adolescents after Divorce" offers a remarkably balanced assessment of divorce's psychological consequences and suggests concrete ways to enhance children's adjustment. "[ Adolescents after Divorce ] offers a remarkably balanced assessment of divorce's psychological consequences and suggests concrete ways to enhance children's adjustment. Adolescents after Divorce, however, offers a refreshing avenue of insight and clarity about children of divorce ... The writing style of the work is excellent: it is clear, accurate, scholarly, and yet quite interesting. The authors have achieved an objective but engaging tone. The material presented in the book acknowledges the passion inherent in the subject of children and divorce, but does not allow that passion to swamp rational thinking. "["Adolescents after Divorce"] offers a remarkably balanced assessment of divorce's psychological consequences and suggests concrete ways to enhance children's adjustment. "Adolescents after Divorce," however, offers a refreshing avenue of insight and clarity about children of divorce...The writing style of the work is excellent: it is clear, accurate, scholarly, and yet quite interesting. The authors have achieved an objective but engaging tone. The material presented in the book acknowledges the passion inherent in the subject of children and divorce, but does not allow that passion to swamp rational thinking. -- Dorinda N. Noble "Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare" "Adolescents after Divorce", however, offers a refreshing avenue of insight and clarity about children of divorce...The writing style of the work is excellent: it is clear, accurate, scholarly, and yet quite interesting. The authors have achieved an objective but engaging tone. The material presented in the book acknowledges the passion inherent in the subject of children and divorce, but does not allow that passion to swamp rational thinking.--Dorinda N. Noble "Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare " The aim of this volume is to shed new light on the question why do some children 'falter after divorce and others thrive?'...The volume is based upon a carefully constructed study which was rigorously executed and analysed. The subject pool consisted of 522 young people from 365 families. The study is drawn from a larger sample of 1,500 young people who participated in the Stanford Divorce Study, drawn from two counties in Northern California. This was a non-clinical population...The authors are distinguished researchers, who, in reporting the findings, are able to draw upon wide experience when making interpretations and reaching their conclusions...A book like this generally proves to be a milestone in the literature [and] this volume is destined to be a landmark...with its careful documentation, rigorous analyses and well-qualified conclusions, and with a particular emphasis on understanding the living arrangements that best predict healthy adaptation.--Erica Frydenberg "British Jou There has been too little systematic empirical research on the developmental pathways of individuals as they chart their way through the course of family transitions. This book goes a long way in remedying this situation by addressing several critically important questions about divorce and family functioning. In many ways, it provides a model for future research of this kind. The book describes an ambitious longitudinal study of the social and emotional adjustment of 522 adolescents in 365 families in which a parental divorce had occurred four years previously...The authors are to be congratulated for their commitment to empirical rigour and for their emphasis on individual differences in adolescents' experiences, in an area of research that is too often preoccupied with group differences. A particular strength of this study is the inclusion of a broad array of social-emotional outcome measures: externalizing and internalizing behaviour problems, adjustment in school, and the availabi

From the Back Cover:

When their parents divorce, some children falter and others thrive. This book asks why. Is it the custody arrangement? A parent's new partner? Conflict or consistency between the two households? Adolescents after Divorce follows teenagers from 1,100 divorcing families to discover what makes the difference. Focusing on a period beginning four years after the divorce, the authors have the articulate, often insightful help of their subjects in exploring the altered conditions of their lives. These teenagers come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are functioning well. Some are faring poorly. The authors examine the full variety of situations in which these children find themselves once the initial disruption has passed - whether parents remarry or repartner, how parents relate to each other and to their children, and how life in two homes is integrated. Certain findings emerge - for instance, remarried new partners are better accepted than cohabiting new partners. And when parents' relations are amicable, adolescents in dual custody are less likely than other adolescents to experience loyalty conflicts. The authors also consider the effects of visitation arrangements, The demands made and the goals set within each home, and the emotional closeness of the residential parent to the child. A mine of information on a topic that touches so many Americans, this study will be crucial for researchers, counselors, lawyers, judges, and parents.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0674005171
• ISBN 13: 9780674005174
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344