Joint Physical Custody in The Netherlands and the Well-Being of Children

The frequency of contact with fathers and mothers and the amount of parental support for boys and girls is an important issue after divorce, from emotional, legal, and empirical points of view. In the Netherlands between 1998 and 2008, joint physical custody after divorce (when children actually have shared residences) has increased from 5% to 16%. It is therefore interesting to compare the effects growing up in the following different kinds of families actually has on children: (a) mother families with low contact frequency with the father; (b) mother families with high contact frequency with the father; (c) co-parenting families (joint physical custody); and (d) father families. The main conclusion is that, on average, the effects of joint physical custody for children, mothers, and especially for fathers, are slightly positive.     

Mid- and Late-Life Divorce and Parents’ Perceptions of Emerging Adult Children’s Emotional Reactions

A paucity of research exists pertaining to the experiences of emerging adult children in the context of parental divorce. This study uses Paul R. Amato’s divorce-stress-adjustment framework to organize a set of predictors that potentially influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s emotional reactions to a divorce. Data come from a nationally representative AARP study, from which we analyzed a sample of 283 parents who experienced a divorce at age 40 years or older. Results indicate that parental gender, nature of contact with the ex-partner, divorce timing, time spent contemplating divorce, a history of parental divorce, and the reason for divorce influence parents’ perceptions of their emerging adult children’s reaction to the divorce. Implications, limitations, and future direction for research are discussed.     

Learning to Speak the Language A Relational Interpretation or an Adolescent Girl's Suicidality

Through a clinical case study, this paper explores the peak in girls' suicide attempts at ages 13 and 14 and offers a relational interpretation of girls' suicidal behaviors as symbolic and indirect speech, reflecting a language that is deeply encultured. In early adolescence, girls learn that if they threaten to harm or endanger themselves or actually do so, people take notice. Girls then discover the communicative value of threatening or enacting harm, danger, or violence against themselves. Thus they “learn to speak the language of violence.” The clinical case illustrates how girls who speak this language can be called manipulative and not taken seriously, but also how, when their communication is heard and interpreted relationally, it can explain why girls' suicidality peaks in early adolescence and why it is associated with hope.     

Essay review

Sexuality, Poverty, and the Inner City. Elijah Anderson, Ph.D. (Monograph #2 from “Sexuality and American Social Policy: A Seminar Series,” Jayne Garrison, Mark D. Smith, & Douglas J. Besharov [Eds.].) (Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2400 Sand Hill Road, 1994.)     

Former Spouse Ties and Postdivorce Relationship Quality: Relationship Effort as a Mediator

ABSTRACT

One potential problem area in remarriages is problems with or ties to an ex-spouse. This study focuses on identifying factors central to the relationship dynamics such as relationship satisfaction and stability. Additional emphasis is placed on specific and targeted work in a relationship with the goal of improving it, and its potential mediating effect on any negative relationship between ex-spouse ties and low relationship quality. Using secondary data from the RELATionship Evaluation Survey (RELATE), a sample of 1,546 individuals in postdivorce romantic relationships was examined. The results indicate that unresolved issues and negative interactions with an ex-spouse are negatively associated with relationship quality, but effort to mediate this negative association shows promise. Practice recommendations include exploring how family service agencies and clinicians can better serve couples in postdivorce relationships. Further, a focus on the repartnered family system and a recognition of its difference from other family system types (i.e., first marriage) are important for agencies, clinicians, and researchers interested in providing services to stepfamilies and family life after divorce.     

Paths,Punctuations and Policy Learning—Comparing Patterns of European use of Scientific Expertise during the Covid-19 Crisis

Public Organization Review - The article examines changes in the role and position of experts in policy making in the EU member states and four additional West European mature democracies during...