Separating Together: How Divorce Transforms Families

Is divorce a catastrophe for children? Do single parents have trouble establishing authority in their homes? Do boys have a harder time adjusting than girls? Based on a unique longitudinal study of 100 divorcing families with school-age children, this book argues that popular images of divorce including those shared by many psychologists are too individualistic, too negative, and too universalizing about an experience that can be very different for men and women, parents and children, and different kinds of families. The book integrates qualitative and quantitative data to illuminate both the positive and negative effects of divorce on family members and family relationships, offering a nuanced, empirically grounded examination of divorce as a family system event.

Abigail J. Stewart, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, where she is also Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Widely published, her research has focused on the psychology of women's lives; personality; and adaptation to change.

Anne P. Copeland, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at Boston University. She is currently studying how family process and national culture affect adolescents' identity and adjustment.

Nia Lane Chester, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Dean for Learning and Assessment at Pine Manor College in Brookline, MA. A former Radcliffe Research Scholar and recipient of a DuPont grant from the Women's College Coalition, her interests include role and personality interaction, stress and coping patterns in adults and children, and women and work.

Janet E. Malley, PhD, is Senior Research Associate at the Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College. Her research interests are in the area of adult development, focusing in particular on how the process of development may be mediated by work and family roles.

Nicole B. Barenbaum, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Her research focuses on the history of personality psychology in the U.S.