Remarriage after Divorce: A Review

Abstract

Remarriage is a growing phenomenon for which its members are likely to be poorly prepared, due to inadequate institutionalization of this form of the nuclear family

Behavior problems of clinic children: Relation to parental marital status, age and sex of child.

“…First, all children in this study were referred to the clinic for some type of behavior problem. Thus, this clinical population may respond to the stresses of divorce and remarriage differently than a nonclinical population 3 , 47 . Second, previous research used smaller samples and did not investigate all of the variables in one study.…”

Relation of parental transitions to boys' adjustment problems: I. A linear hypothesis: II. Mothers at risk for transitions and unskilled parenting.

“…When the data were adjusted for education, income, race, and age of child, they found that boys in the stepfather families had twice as many suspensions and expulsions as boys in single-mother families. Several other studies have found that children in stepparent families are at higher risk than children in intact families for poor mental health, conduct problems, and socialized delinquency (Dornbusch et al, 1985; Kalter, 1977; Kellam, Ensminger, & Turner, 1977; Tooliatos & Lindholm, 1980; Walker, Rogers, & Messinger, 1977).…”

Joint custody after divorce: Major issues and goals for research.

“…Most of the re-search is plagued with methodological problems, with all of the studies having several of the following flaws: (a) the use of nonrandom, unrepresentative, or clinical samples; (b) the combining of different structural types of stepfamilies (e.g., stepmother and stepfather families) into one category and the failure to perform separate analyses on these structural types; (c) the failure to include a nuclear family control group; (d) the absence of controls or separate analyses for stepfamilies differing in age, sex, and number of children from first and subsequent marriages; (e) the failure to control or otherwise take into account reasons for termination of first marriages, length of previous and current marriages, and time between marriages; and (f) the absence of direct behavioral measures of stepparentstepchild interactions and/or independent, multiple assessments of adjustment (e.g., reports from both parents and teachers). No studies have used longitudinal designs, random samples of structurally different types of stepfamilies, and multiple measures of family functioning (Walker, Rogers, & Messinger, 1977). After reviewing the remarriage and stepfamily literature, Walker et al (1977) concluded that very few of the studies even permitted an assessment of the reliability and validity of the measures.…”

“…No studies have used longitudinal designs, random samples of structurally different types of stepfamilies, and multiple measures of family functioning (Walker, Rogers, & Messinger, 1977). After reviewing the remarriage and stepfamily literature, Walker et al (1977) concluded that very few of the studies even permitted an assessment of the reliability and validity of the measures.…”