Effects of Divorce on Children

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how many governmental policies in the United States seem to be based on the assumption that all families are nuclear families with stable membership over time. It points out, however, that, in reality, U.S. families are structurally diverse; there are a large number of single-parent households, stepfamily households and extended family households. This paper looks at the ramifications of single-parent households on children from an economic, social, psychological and emotional perspective.

From the Paper:

"Divorce forces family members to rethink family kinship and leads to changes in whether certain individuals continue to be defined as relatives. After divorce, relationships with in-laws may be redefined, parents may lose contact with their nonresidential children, and stepkin may be added to the family following remarriage. Remarriage potentially adds members to the pool of kin without necessarily eliminating old kin members, resulting in remarriage chains that are linked by children. Family obligations about supporting elders may be stronger in these remarriage chains. Remarriage also may force family members to decide if certain individuals are to be thought of as relatives. Socially defined standards, or normative family obligation beliefs, are generalized norms regarding obligations of family members to one another. "Kin norms are culturally defined rights and duties that specify the ways in which any pair of kin-related persons is expected to behave toward each other" (Rossi & Rossi 155-156). "Family obligations can be seen as part of normative rules which . . . get applied in appropriate situations" (Finch, 155-156). In Finch's thinking, these rules are more like guidelines that direct decisions and behaviors rather than rigid law-like rules to which people strictly adhere."

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