Questions about how children fare in divided families have become as perplexing and urgent as they are common. In this work on custody arrangements, the developmental psychologist Eleanor Maccoby and the legal scholar Robert Mnookin consider these questions and their ramifications for society. This book examines the social and legal realities of how divorcing parents make arrangements for their children, "Dividing the Child" is based on a large, representative study of families from a wide range of socioeconomic levels. Maccoby and Mnookin followed a group of more than 1000 families for three years after the parents file for divorce. Their findings show how different divorce agreements are reached, from the uncontested dealings to formal judicial rulings, and how various custody arrangements fare as time passes and family circumstances change. Numerous examples of joint custody and father custody are considered in this account, along with the mother-custody families more commonly studied; and in most cases the point of view of both parents is presented. After the divorce, most children spent time in both parental households. The authors identify three different patterns of co-parenting: cooperative, conflicted and disengaged. They explain why post-divorce conflict rarely involves formal legal disputes, although parents have difficulty in establishing effective parental cooperation. This book should be invaluable to the lawyers, judges, social workers and parents who, more and more often, must make wise and informed decisions concerning the welfare and care of children and divorce.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
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 (Law and Politics Book 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.
--Andrew J. Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University
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.
--Barbara Bennett Woodhouse (Contemporary Sociology )
--Alice Hearst (Law and Politics Book 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.
--Andrew J. Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University
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.
--Barbara Bennett Woodhouse (Contemporary Sociology )
About the Author
Eleanor E. Maccoby is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Stanford University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Robert H. Mnookin is Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project.
Robert H. Mnookin is Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great look at children and custody,
This review is from: Dividing the Child: Social and Legal Dilemmas of Custody (Paperback)
I read this book in a developmental psychology course and it really made me think about divorce and custody issues. Maccoby presents some compelling points regarding children's decisions, the tendency to award custody to mothers, the more recent popularity of joint custody and arrangements made by the parents themselves. It will give you a good background on the history of custody decisions as well as what has happened more recently.
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