What matters? What does not? Five perspectives on the association between marital transitions and children's adjustment.
This article presents an analysis of 5 views of factors that contribute to the adjustment of children in divorced families or stepfamilies. These perspectives are those that emphasize (a) individual vulnerability and risk; (b) family composition; (c) stress, including socioeconomic disadvantage; (d) parental distress; and (e) disrupted family process. It is concluded that all of these factors contribute to children's adjustment in divorced and remarried families and that a transactional model examining multiple trajectories of interacting risk and protective factors is the most fruitful in predicting the well-being of children.
Hetherington
E M
EM
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22903-2477, USA. emh2f@virginia.edu
Bridges
M
M
Insabella
G M
GM
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002655:Child Custody; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors