The purpose of this study is to assess differences between husbands and wives (N= 526 couples at the first assessment) on (a) growth curves over the first 4 years of marriage for psychological distress, marriage-specific appraisals, spousal interactions, social support, and marital satisfaction; (b) the strength of intraspouse links and…

Examined relations between reported well-being, divorce history, availability of proximate adult, and gender in 6,573 respondents. Three main effects were significant: those with history of no divorce reported greater happiness than those with divorce; married persons reported greater happiness and less depression than those cohabiting; and men…

A sample of 73 divorced single parents were asked to rate the severity of a variety of child-centered problems. The problems of greatest concern involved discipline, behavior problems resulting from the separation and following the ex-spouse's visit, and the lack of an available male model. (Author)

The tone of children's responses was positive yet realistic. Children did not view their parent's divorce as an overly distressing experience. The nature of responses was consistently related to age and level of locus of control and interpersonal knowledge in the open-ended interview and in the structured questionnaire. (Author/BEF)

In a study of single divorced custodial parents and their children, both custodial mothers and fathers evidenced high levels of androgyny. Both boys and girls were significantly more androgynous than a matched sample of children whose parents were not divorced. (Author/CC)

Responds to previous article by Amato on children's adjustment to divorce. Focuses on two aspects of Amato's review: the mechanics of the review (perspectives advanced, criteria used to evaluate generated hypotheses, and accuracy of conclusions) and critical comments raised about the existing literature and in particular the proposed general model…

Young adolescents who lived with both biological parents, single divorced mother, single divorced father, mother and stepfather, father and stepmother, or multiply divorced parent appraised dimensions of family climate and dimensions of parenting. Differences among family structures were found on warmth, conflict, permissive parenting, and…

Surveyed 25 divorced mothers and their children to study divorce experiences and predictors of adjustment. Results showed mothers' positive adjustment was related to nontraditional sex role attitudes as well as personality traits including social maturity. Parental conflict and mothers' stress influenced children's social and psychological…

Single divorced parents were interviewed about the degree of conflict in the preseparation period, their children's reactions to the news of the separation, their children's present attitude toward the divorce, and their own estimation of the strengths their children had acquired as a result of adjusting to the divorce. (Author)

Examined relation between divorce history and psychological distress for newlywed couples (N=459). Results indicated husbands' distress was related to low marital satisfaction and dissatisfaction with social support; wives' distress was related to history of multiple divorces, few years of education, low occupational prestige, low marital…

Evaluated the psychometric characteristics of the Children's Beliefs about Parental Divorce Scale with three nonclinic samples. Demonstrated six subscales: Peer Ridicule and Avoidance, Paternal Blame, Fear of Abandonment, Maternal Blame, Hope of Reunification, and Self-Blame. The number of problematic beliefs varied by family structure but not by…

Administered questionnaires to divorced, single custodial parents and their 5 to 19-year-old children. Found positive reactions and adjustments related to children defining divorce in terms of psychological separation between the parents, sharing concerns with friends, positive evaluations of both parents, and acquiring strengths and…

Examined whether sixth graders' adjustment to the school context (assessed by grades, achievement scores, and disruptive behaviors) was affected by factors from both the family context (as represented by the number of divorce-related parenting transitions and perceptions of current family climate) and the peer context (represented by peer norms…

Investigated the effects of and relationship between the number of parenting transitions (divorce, remarriage) and adjustment in three samples of adolescent girls and boys not identified as being at risk for problems. Found qualified evidence of a negative linear relationship between the number of parenting transitions experienced and child…