Understanding Differences between Divorced and Intact Families: Stress, Interaction, and Child Outcome (Understanding Families series)

How do divorced and intact families differ? Is there a link between parental divorce and child adjustment? How do parents and children in divorced families interact differently from those in intact families? Understanding Differences Between Divorced and Intact Families offers valuable insights on these and other important questions. The research team behind this volume has assembled and analyzed data from two large-scale studies of midwest families--one examining intact families, the other examining divorced families. The findings illustrate the special stresses each type of family suffers and the impact of divorce on children. This groundbreaking volume opens with a model of the impact that parental divorce has on child development, and it emphasizes the ways in which family structure, differences in stress, and parental adjustment account for the fact that children of divorce show more conduct and emotional problems than those from intact families. Addressing a crucial topic for scholars, practitioners, and researchers, Understanding Differences Between Divorced and Intact Families is a major contribution to the fields of family studies, developmental psychology, and sociology. "Understanding Differences Between Divorced and Intact Families is a significant and provocative contribution to the literature. Unlike most studies of single-parent families, Ronald L. Simons and colleagues designed an imaginative study capitalizing on diverse methods, reliable measures, and multiple informants to gather rich information on theoretically important variables. The book is logically organized to address a range of concerns commonly voiced about single-parent families, and each chapter is guided by a careful consideration of alternative theoretical arguments. The findings provide important new evidence and the book is a must read for students, researchers, and policymakers." --David H. Demo, University of Missouri, Columbia