Reasons for Divorce:

A 27-item checklist of reasons for divorce was administered to 437 men and women divorcing in the mid-1980's. Factor analysis revealed nine dimensions underlying the checklist responses. The most frequently cited factors were unmet emotional needs/growing apart, lifestyle differences or boredom with the marriage, and high conflict, demeaning relationships. Statistically significant sex, age and socio-economic differences were found. Correlates between the factors and individual psychological functioning, parental functioning, and the emotional ambiance of the divorce reflected considerable diversity among the divorcing population and have implications for legal and mental health practice.     

Implications of Divorce on Reasons for Living in Older Adolescents

To assess any possible differences in reasons for living between adolescents from divorced families and those from "intact" families, 286 older adolescent age undergraduates were, administered the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL). Adolescents from divorced families revealed lower Responsibility to Family beliefs, but other adaptive cognitive characteristics were not different. Various demographics were shown to have some impact on reasons for living, especially the age of the child at the time of the divorce.     

Reasons That Could Lead People to Divorce in an Evolutionary Perspective: Evidence from Cyprus

In the current research, we aimed to identify the reasons that could drive people to get a divorce. In Study 1, we employed qualitative research methods, and we identified 62 reasons that could potentially drive people to get a divorce. Using quantitative research methods, in Study 2 we classified these reasons into 7 broader factors. We found that being a harmful spouse was the most important factor for divorce, followed by incompatibility and in-law problems. We also found significant sex differences in several factors such as women indicating a higher willingness than men to divorce a harmful spouse. In addition, participants with children were less willing to divorce a harmful spouse than those who had no children. Finally, using second-order principal components analysis, we classified the 7 factors into 2 broader domains of reasons for getting a divorce.     

Divorce

Intervention techniques for helping children of divorce have generally been implemented after the formal announcement of the disruption of the family. However, children are aware during the preseparation phase of the imminent crisis. A play, written by a third-grade boy, is presented here, to dispel the notion that children are oblivious to the marital disharmony, and to encourage all professionals who work with couples in the early phases of separation to deal immediately with its impact on the children.     

Divorce:

This article approaches divorce from a combined family systems, individual life cycle and stage theory of development perspective. It posits that the choice of what kind of therapy is apt to be most efficient and most efficacious for any patient/couple should be made after identifying at what stage in the divorce process the person(s) is/are in when they enter treatment and what their respective ego strengths, cognitive functioning, and social and resource networks are. There is an assumption of flexibility in the therapist's style and philosophic orientation. It is recommended that therapy encompass interventions that are likely to be the most effective in the various stages rather than be a rigid adherence to one dogma. Several illustrative case vignettes are presented.     

Divorce Research

This paper reviews research on the antecedents and the consequences of divorce for adults. Divorce is discussed as part of a continuum of marital instability. Research on historical and sociological causes of divorce and theoretical models for the study of divorce are reviewed. The changes in health status and the role redefinitions experienced by the divorced are discussed. The contribution of unmodifiable and modifiable factors in easing adjustment to divorce is examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues relating to sampling and measurement that need to be addressed in future research in order to improve and expand upon previous studies.     

Divorce in Research vs. Divorce in Media

What is the case for divorce? Researchers in the sociology of family tend to find that divorce's impact depends on what the comparison is: compared to a distressed marriage, divorce has its benefits. Meanwhile, policy makers and general audiences alike get much of their information about divorce research via the news media, where the negative consequences of divorce tend to be exaggerated, especially when comparisons, selection bias, or other research issues are neglected. Over the past 20 years, U.S. news coverage of divorce illustrates two key, intertwined topics: moral entrepreneurship using divorce as an issue and divorce research using (or not) careful methods of comparison. Three cases discussed below (in 1988–1989, 2002–2004, and 2008) illustrate these two themes. The underlying research on the health and mental health effects (including by gender) of divorce on children and adults reviewed in this article makes a case for divorce. The overlay of media reporting on divorce research illuminates the purpose for offering a case for divorce.     

School-based Groups for Children of Divorce

Over a million children under the age of 18 are involved annually in the breakup of their families through divorce. The majority receive no support to help them cope with the crisis. This paper proposes the establishment of situation/transition groups within the schools, led by school mental health personnel: school psychologists, social workers, and guidance counselors. The groups provide immediate crisis intervention and ongoing support to children of divorcing parents, as a means of preventing the development of psychopathology.     

The Gendered Meanings of Assets for Divorce

Scholars identified a negative relationship between assets and divorce decades ago, but the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unknown. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 4,721 couples), this study compared three mechanisms that might link assets and divorce. Non-proportional Cox hazard models indicated that two of the three mechanisms explained the relationship between assets and divorce. Wives’ marital satisfaction and their perceptions of their hypothetical post-divorce standard of living completely mediated the relationship between assets and divorce. The relationship between assets and divorce was not related to husbands’ characteristics. Portions of this study were presented at the 2005 annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations.     

Freedom of Divorce

MS. Zhang and her husband came to realize they were not right for each other after three years of marriage. According to the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China, citizens have freedom of marriage and divorce so the couple sought to end their unhappiness and begin new lives separately. As they had no children, and were in agreement on the divorce, the only     

After the Divorce

The present study compares postdivorce adjustment factors among older, long-married persons with similar familial factors among younger divorced persons. Data collected from personal interviews indicate that older divorced persons are not devastated by their divorce. Although these two groups do not differ in their overall scores of emotional health as measures by the General Well-Being Scale, within certain categories the older persons appear to be emotionally healthier. Statistically significant differences between the two samples include: importance of family closeness; conflict in relationships; and forewarning of the divorce from family members. There are also differences in the familial factors that predict well-being for the two age groups. Professionals intervening at all system levels should be sensitive to age differences and incorporate familial factors that ameliorate postdivorce adjustment. Implications for practice with older divorced persons include strengthening parent/adult child relationships and creatively designing programs at macro and micro levels to decrease family conflict. With younger divorced persons, conflict mediation with the family following divorce is necessary.     

Loneliness and Divorce

Loneliness was found to be associated with divorce. Women were more affected than men. The greatest feelings of loneliness were in social situations when women felt they had no one with whom to share responsibility; when women felt that finances were a limiting factor; and when women had certain tasks to perform and felt there was no one with whom to share the responsibility. Both men and women were lonely when they felt out of place at a particular time or event.     

Divorce Chinese Style

This study investigated divorce during China's social and economic transformation period from 1970 to 2012. Specifically, the study examined the trend development of divorce and demonstrated how marriage formation type and individual socioeconomic characteristics were associated with the likelihood of divorce across time. Event‐history analysis was applied to longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2012 waves). The results showed a threefold increase in divorce from the pre‐1990s to the 1990s. Surprisingly, the trend shifted to a plateau toward the 2000s. When cohabitation was in its rapidly diffusing stage in the 1990s, individuals who cohabited prior to marriage had a substantially higher likelihood of divorce. As cohabitation became increasingly common in the 2000s, its effect on divorce weakened. The role of socioeconomic characteristics in divorce also varied across time. This study enriches the knowledge of family dynamics in contemporary Chinese society.     

Age-Specific Divorce Rates

This paper examines the various types of divorce rates and concludes that the age-specific rate is most precise. Using data from 1970 and 1980 the teen and early twenties marriages are most at risk to divorce. Contrary to general belief, divorce does not increase during the "mid-life crisis" or "after the children leave home."     

Divorce in Ireland

Ireland is one of the few countries where divorce is constitutionally prohibited. In this article, the author sets out the present legal position, explains the historical background, examines the relations between church and state on the question of marriage, and discusses the social effects of the prohibition on divorce. He goes on to analyze public attitudes toward divorce and to consider proposals for reform of the law.     

Divorce and Children

Zang Xiaoping (editor of the Literary Gazette) Whether or not to get divorced for the sake of the children is an important question for every couple that is having problems. I think the key to solving the problem is to start by considering what would be best for the healthy development of their children.     

Divorce at Mid-Life

The impact of mid-life separation and divorce on fami- ly intcrgenerational linkages is conSidered in relation to Ule comple- tion of late family stage tasks. Special reference is made to family celebrations as occasions which often reflect the merging of various sub-groups of the family. Consideration is given to recommendations coming out of the feminist literature on family therapy regarding the concept of less slructurally determined family boundaries.     

Children of Divorce

This mixed methods study identified six elementary teachers, who, despite the widespread marginalization of elementary social studies, spent considerable time on the subject. These six outliers from a sample of forty-six Michigan elementary teachers were interviewed, and their teaching was observed to better understand how and why they deviate from the norm. An autonomy-versus-control continuum is used to frame how teachers decide what, when, and how to teach. Challenging existing literature that suggests that additional attention to elementary social studies comes from testing pressure or by providing teachers with autonomy, findings of this study reveal that five of the six teachers taught social studies frequently and extensively because their schedules were externally controlled to designate specific time for social studies instruction.     

Children of Divorce

Abstract

A case-control study was done to observe the association between the parents' divorce and their children's results in school.

The information was obtained from a questionnaire which was answered by the counselors of 8 public schools in Santiago, Chile.

From one class of each school, 52 pupils of divorced marriages were searched. The control group of 52 pupils of non-divorced parents was chosen by selecting the name following the case on the class list.

The children of divorced parents were: 37 (71%) girls, 15 (29%) boys, the average age was 11.8 ± 0. 8 years; 12 (29%) had failed the year; the average marks were 5.2 ±0.7 (range 1-7) and the average attendance was 92 ± 8 %.

The controls were: 33 (63%) girls, 19 (37%) boys, the average age was 11.4 ± 0.6 years; 3 (5.7%) had failed the year; the average marks were 5.9 ± 0.5 (range 1-7); the average attendance was 94.5 ± 4.5%.

The conclusion is that children of divorced marriages have 4.9 more estimated relative risk (RR) of failing year and 7.1 times more estimated relative risk of having an average mark of 5.5 or lower than children of non-divorced parents.

These numbers must be observed with caution because of the small size sample and show an association but are not cause-effect.     

Attachment and Divorce

In this paper, recent efforts to integrate attachment theory and family systems theory are reviewed and extended to the context of therapy with families coping with the divorce process. Family members' global working models of attachment, rather than the spousal attachment alone, are proposed as the point of intervention, with the goal of helping families reestablish an "attachment equilibrium" during and after divorce, thus addressing potentially problematic expressions of attachment behavior that could interfere with resolution of the divorce, causing difficulties in future co-parenting and other family functioning.