The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: The 25 Year Landmark Study

Judith S. Wallerstein, Sandra Blakeslee, Julia M. Lewis

ISBN 10: 0786863943 / ISBN 13: 9780786863945

Published by Hyperion, 2000

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Synopsis:

Twenty-five years ago, Judith Wallerstein began talking to a group of 131 children whose parents were all going through a divorce. She asked them to tell her about the intimate details of their lives, which they did with remarkable candor. Having earned their trust, Wallerstein was rewarded with a deeply moving portrait of each of their lives as she followed them from childhood, through their adolescent struggles, and into adulthood. With The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, Wallerstein offers us the only close-up study of divorce ever conducted -- a unique report that will change our fundamental beliefs about divorce and offer new hope for the future.

Wallerstein chooses seven children who most embody the common life experiences of the larger group and follows their lives in vivid detail through adolescence and into their love affairs, their marriage successes and failures, and parenting their own children. In Wallerstein's hands, the experiences and anxieties of this generation of children, now in their late twenties to early forties, come to life. We watch as they struggle with the fear that their relationships will fail like those of their parents. Lacking an internal template of what a successful relationship looks like, they must invent their own codes of behavior in a culture that offers many models and few guidelines. Wallerstein shows how many over-came their dread of betrayal to find loving partners and to become successful, protective parents -- and how others are still struggling to find their heart's desire without knowing why they feel so frightened. She also demonstrates their great strengths and accomplishments, as a generation of survivors who often had to raise themselves and help their parents through difficult times.

For the first time, using a comparison group of adults who grew up in the same communities, Wallerstein shows how adult children of divorce essentially view life differently from their peers raised in intact homes where parents also confronted marital difficulties but decided on balance to stay together. In this way she sheds light on the question so many parents confront -- whether to stay unhappily married or to divorce.

The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce should be essential reading for all adult children of divorce, their lovers, their partners, divorced parents or those considering divorce, judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals. Challenging some of our most cherished beliefs, this is a book that will forever alter how we think about divorce and its long-term impact on American society.

Synopsis: In 1976, Judith Wallerstein began a 15 year study of 131 children whose parents were all going through a divorce. She asked them to share the intimate details of their lives, which they did with remarkable candour. Wallerstein was rewarded with a portrait of each of their lives as she followed them from childhood, through their adolescent struggles and into adulthood. Using a comparison group of adults who grew up in the same communities, Wallerstein returned to her original subjects 10 years after the official study ended to show how adult children of divorce essentially view life differently from their peers whose parents remain married, both happily and unhappily. We witness their struggles, their vulnerabilities, their desperate need to be loved while at the same time terrified of intimacy. Can they overcome their fear of betrayal and failure to find loving partners, or are they doomed to repeat their parents' mistakes?

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: The 25 ...
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication Date: 2000
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good