This study examined linkages between divorce, depressive/withdrawn parenting, and child adjustment problems at home and school. Middle class divorced single mother families (n = 35) and 2-parent families (n = 174) with a child in the fourth grade participated. Mothers and teachers completed yearly questionnaires and children were interviewed when they were in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades...

This article studies the effect of the regime shift to joint custody in custody dispute adjudication in the United States during the 1980s using census data. Relying on cross state and year variation in the timing of adoption, I found the probability of attaining grade 12 or higher at age 18 among children of divorced or separated families to be higher in adoption states, but there was a fall i...

Modern marriage markets display increasing turnover, with less marriage but more divorce and remarriage. As a consequence, a large number of children live in single parent and step parent households. There is substantial evidence that children of divorced parents do not perform as well as comparable children in intact families. However, there is also some evidence that this gap declines with th...

This follow-up study of 131 children, who were 3–18 years old when their parents divorced in the early 1970s, marks the culmination of 25 years of research. The use of extensive clinical interviews allowed for exploration in great depth of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as they negotiated childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. At the 25-year follow-up, a comparison gro...

Comparative studies of children from divorced and intact families consistently find that children of divorced marriages have more shortand long-term psychological and social issues than children from intact marriages. This has led to the need for an evaluation of our divorce culture. The purpose of this research is to analyze the general population’s attitudes on divorce involving children by g...

Two studies were conducted to examine the long-term impact of parental divorce on beliefs about the self and others. In Study 1, college-aged children of divorce and students from intact families did not differ on 8 basic assumptions or on measures of depression. Those whose parents are divorced, however, were less optimistic about the success of their own future marriages. Assumptions about th...

Patients 240 families with children 9–12 years of age (mean age 11 y, 51% boys) of divorced parents. Families were included if the mother was the primary residential parent; neither the mother nor any child was receiving treatment for mental health problems; mother had not remarried, did not plan to remarry, and had no live in boyfriend; custody was stable; mother and child were fluent in Engli...

Joint custody reforms increase the bargaining power of men within marriage and alter the allocation of resources within the household. The empirical evidence suggests that these shifts reinforce the traditional division of household labor, with both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, marriage and fertility rates rise, and male suicides and domestic violence decline. On the neg...

An increasing number of children are being raised by one parent, a divorced or never-married woman (see the Spring 1994 issue of The Future of Children). These families are a heterogeneous group in terms of income, education, employment, and ethnicity or race. Black and Hispanic children are disproportionately represented. This article focuses on one of many important consequences for children ...

People: 68 children (aged 9–12 years, primarily white and from middle income families) who were a control group of a larger RCT. Exclusions: depression; suicidal thoughts; living with mother for less than 50% of the time; receiving special education services; not taking medication if diagnosed with attention deficit disorder; child, mother, or both receiving psychological treatment; anticipated...