Relationship with extended family following divorce: a closer look at contemporary times

Identifying a typology of helpful post‐divorce family assets: Implications for divorce education

“…These assets reflect the substantial literature that has situated parent, child, and family resiliency to parental divorce as a product of the quality of relationships with former spouses (e.g., Beckmeyer et al, 2021; Ferraro et al, 2019). Further, scholars have demonstrated that extended family relationships can be key sources of socioemotional support during these family transitions (Gürmen et al, 2021). Finally, personal assets captured those that were solely within parents' own control (i.e., they did not rely on interactions with former spouses) such as personal capacities (e.g., parenting skills, health and well‐being), their own family relationships and routines, and new romantic partners.…”

Family life in postdivorce families

“…Kinship norms about whether blood relatives are kin might be unaffected by divorce (Neyer & Lang, 2003). Ties to certain blood relatives -chiefly parents and siblings -may be more intense for divorced people (Anspach, 1976;Gürmen et al, 2021; C. L. , which might be a consequence of divorcees requiring emotional or practical support. High(er) postdivorce contact or closeness, however, probably does not substantially affect whether parents consider their blood relatives kin given that it is the norm to consider them kin irrespective of actual contact (Schneider, 1980).…”

“…There are, to our knowledge, only a few studies that directly compare married and divorced parents' conceptualizations of kinship (e.g., C. L. Johnson, 1989;Milardo, 1987;Rands, 1988;Rossi & Rossi, 1990;Widmer, 2006). Most studies comparing married and divorced parents consider (differences in) kin behavior between the two groups, like as contact frequency with various relatives (e.g., Ambert, 1988;Anspach, 1976; E. M. Brown, 1982;Gerstel, 1988;Gürmen et al, 2021;Kalmijn & van Groenou, 2005), but such differences may not equate to differences in people's perceptions about who is kin. Kin relationships are often latent, meaning that someone can be considered kin without much contact with them (Riley, 1983).…”