Divorce Lessons: Real Life Stories and What You Can Learn From Them

Divorce Lessons offers a comprehensive view of divorce, from the beginning of the marriage to the years after the breakup. Young people candidly describe their experiences growing up in disintegrating families and reveal intimate details of their lives after divorce. Their stories tell of violence and neglect, unreasonable expectations and insensitive parenting. Yet they also offer examples of coping and success. There are lessons in these stories that can help parents and children in divorced and divorcing families. The book provides practical and compassionate guidelines to help people avoid dysfunctional marriages and to cope more effectively if divorce is necessary.

The authors of Divorce Lessons are two developmental psychologists. Alison Clarke-Stewart is Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean at the University of California, Irvine. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and co-author of What We Know about Childcare (Harvard Press, 2005). Cornelia Brentano is Associate Professor of Child Development at the California State University and has conducted research on the legal and psychological processes of divorce. Together they authored also Divorce Today: Causes and Consequences (Yale Press, 2006).