Synopses & Reviews
1993 William J. Goode Book Award, Sociology of the Family Section of the American Sociological Association
Review
An important book for those concerned with family policy: it clarifies the connections among various factors involved in the dissolution process with care and concern...[It] should...assist in refocusing divorce from reform efforts toward the difficult issues of enhancing cooperation and easing adjustments to lives after divorce. Alice Hearst
Review
Maccoby and Mnookin have provided the first look at what the sweeping legal changes in custody arrangements since the 1970s mean for the daily lives of divorced parents and their children today. Authoritative, rich in insight, it is a report from the postdivorce front that everyone concerned about the future of the American family should read. Law and Politics Book Review
Review
Adds significantly to current knowledge about the roles of law, culture, and psychology in shaping the economic and parenting systems in postdivorce families...Gives a fascinating picture of divorce in process and the interplay between formal legal and informal practical arrangements. Andrew J. Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University
Synopsis
Questions about how children fare in divided families have become as perplexing and urgent as they are common. In this landmark work on custody arrangements, the developmental psychologist Eleanor Maccoby and the legal scholar Robert Mnookin examine the social and legal realities of how divorcing parents make arrangements for their children.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [355]-363) and index.
About the Author
Eleanor E. Maccobyis Professor Emerita of Psychology at <>Stanford Universityand a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Robert H. Mnookinis Williston Professor of Law at <>Harvard Law Schooland Director of the <>Harvard Negotiation Research Project.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Understanding the Processes of Divorce
3. Characteristics of the Families Studied
4. Initial Residence and Visitation
5. Child Custody: What Parents Want and Get
6. The Economic Provisions of the Divorce Decree
7. Conflict over the Terms of the Divorce Decree
8. Continuity and Change in Children's Residence and Visitation
9. Parenting and Co-parenting Apart
10. Economic Changes over Time
11. Facing the Dilemmas of Child Custody
Appendix A Supplementary Tables
Appendix B Methods
Notes
References
Index