Based on a unique longitudinal study of 100 divorcing families with school-age children, this book argues that popular images of divorce - including those shared by many psychologists - are too individualistic, too negative, and too universalizing about an experience that can be very different for men and women, parents and children, and different kinds of families.

The authors illuminate both the positive and negative effects of divorce on family members and family relationships during the first year after parental separation, offering a nuanced, empirically grounded examination of divorce as a family system event. Integrating compelling quantitative and qualitative data into a comprehensive conceptual framework, this volume will be received with interest by professionals studying and working with families.