Several jurisdictions have attempted to render divorce more harmonious by abolishing matrimonial 'fault' and facilitating the resolution of divorce disputes by mediation. In Britain, these provisions appear in the Family Law Act 1996. The book presents a challenge to the underlying assumptions that conflict and the adversarial system are undesirable. Its focus is on adults’ experiences of divorce. In a series of interviews, divorcing people told their own stories of divorce. The personal narratives revealed that divorce can be emotionally traumatic, but it has positive sides too. The emotions of divorce are not pathological , but are readily explicable as ordinary human coping strategies , in the context of the real material privations that many divorcing people suffer. These coping strategies often involve conflict and acrimony. From a psychodynamic perspective, it is argued that these are integral, and psychologically necessary, aspects of the divorce process. This book is particularly topical in the light of the recent decision of the British Government to postpone the implementation of the Family Law Act 1996 and the acknowledged need for research to inform policy.

Many books deal with divorce and its aftermath -- some deal with the impact of divorce on children and families, others with the legal or sociological aspects of divorce, and a few focus on divorced mothers and fathers. Most of these books are characterized by their practical orientation toward the issues and problems posed by divorce. None of these, however, have attempted to offer an integrated view of the massive amount of theoretical and research literature on divorced adults and their children. In addition, none present a comprehensive view of divorce as a psychological process within its larger social context. Filling that void, this book: * offers a comprehensive view of divorce as a social, interpersonal and psychological phenomenon, * reviews the theory and research on divorce focusing on the major protagonists of the divorce drama: the mother, the father and the children, and * introduces a social-psychological theory of divorce process.

This book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the nature of parenthood and its various manifestations in contemporary society.

In recent decades a growing number of studies have described cancer as a “we-disease”. Patients with cancer as well as intimate partners experienced psychological distress. Studies displayed that various relational factors (e.g., attachment style, mutuality, etc.) such as diverse close relationship processes (e.g., dyadic coping, communication, shared-decision making, etc.) have an impact on individual (e.g., physical and psychological health, quality of life) and dyadic (e.g., marital quality and satisfaction, sexual and reproductive health, etc.) outcomes. Thus, programs reducing psychological distress and enhancing dyadic processes were developed.

′This book is jam-packed with a wide range of material related to qualitative research.... [T]his is a quality text and has much to offer the reader, especially the novice researcher′ - Nurse Researcher `This comprehensive collection of almost 40 chapters - each written by a leading expert in the field - is the essential reference for anyone undertaking or studying qualitative research. It covers a diversity of methods and a variety of perspectives and is a very practical and informative guide for newcomers and experienced researchers alike′ - John Scott, University of Essex `The best ways in which to understand the issues and processes informing qualitative research is to learn from the accounts of its leading practitioners. Here they come together in what is a distinctive and wide-ranging collection that will appeal to postgraduates and social researchers in general′ - Tim May, University of Salford `This excellent guide engages in a dialogue with a wide range of expert qualitative researchers, each of whom considers their own practice in an illuminating and challenging way. Overall, the book constitutes an authoritative survey of current methods of qualitative research data collection and analysis′ - Nigel Gilbert, University of Surrey This concise paperback edition of the best selling handbook, Qualitative Research Practice, is particularly aimed at the student reader. The chapters are written by leading, internationally distinguished qualitative researchers who recount and reflect on their own research experiences as well as others, past and present, from whom they have learned. It demonstrates the benefits of using particular methods from the viewpoint of real-life experience. This is also a good philosophy for students to adopt in planing research work: to begin from a practical conception of the research process and to treat a book like this as an opportunity to learn a valuable craft. From the outside, good research seems to be produced through practitioners learning and following standard theoretical, empirical and procedural formats. But from the inside we learn that qualitative research (like other forms of scientific endeavour) is also a biographical engagement, rendering its scholarly and practical contributions in its own terms. Standards take on practical meaning as the distinct activities of qualitative research resonate throughout the enterprise, complicating its accountability to itself and to others. In an authoritative yet accessible manner, Qualitative Research Practice reveals the special features of this engagement, teaching us that qualitative research is as much a craft and practice as it is a way of knowing. Presenting a comprehensive examination of contemporary and traditional varieties of qualitative research practice, Qualitative Research Practice will be an invaluable resource for advanced students and researchers in any discipline. It is an essential and definitive guide to the major forms of qualitative methods in use today, written by leaders in the relevant fields of research practice.

Women divorced at midlife without children are a group that is “out of sync” in a society that is still primarily a “married, mothering” world. This book explores the clinical issues, dilemmas, and challenges for women in this role. The book presents a solution focused, relational/constructionist clinical approach and therapeutic techniques for working with these women. Application of clinical techniques and case examples are presented, and new concepts for women’s recovery and development such as role innovation, meaning modification, autonomous competence, and an expanded family life cycle are also suggested in the book.

Drawing upon findings from many disciplines including sociology, communication, family studies, human development, psychology and anthropology-this book provides the first composite study of the whole family and of the complex interplay between self and collectivity in family life. It departs sharply from the traditional two-person, cause-effect models used in conventional studies, and attempts to delineate a social psychology of the family. This book undertakes to define and understand the nature of families, to point out ways of discerning different family characters, and to comprehend the processes by which these characters are established and maintained; by so doing, it introduces a new dimension into the study of family behavior and provides a framework within which meaningful investigations and practical applications can be pursued. This long-awaited fourth edition continues the goal of preceding editions: to understand families in terms of the kinds of interaction through which family life is constructed. Contributors drawn from a wide variety of disciplines sociology; communication; family studies; human development; psychology; anthropology; and social work - provide a range of authoritative and up-to-date sources on the family and interpersonal relations, including newly emergent forms of family organization. In providing a new framework for fruitful investigation and practical application, this volume contains the best available interdisciplinary work on the social psychology of the family.

Divorce has long been viewed as a single phenomenon affecting two individuals without considering the framework conditions in which it occurs. Due to the increase of divorce rates in the past decades researchers have changed their perspective and have concentrated on the view of divorce as a personal experience that is greatly affected by the socials and economic environment. The aim of this thesis is to investigate divorce that has become a mass phenomenon in our present society. The assumption is that in order to understand the grounds for divorce and its consequences, we have to view divorce as a phenomenon that occurs at the intersection of personal, socio-economic and legal factors. Family disputes involve persons who have interdependent and continued relati- ships and arise in a context of distressing emotions. Separation and divorce affect all the members of the family, especially children. The study presents a comprehensive analysis of divorce as a psychological process that is situated within a social and a legal context. It presents a comprehensive view of divorce as a psychosocial, economic and legal phenomenon and contains a review of the research literature about divorce and its consequences for parents and children. Moreover, it describes divorce by proposing conceptual frames and explanatory models.