MEDIATION AND DIVORCE

This article describes the Danish system, tracing its roots from the days when the crown dealt with all matters involving the family. The role of the amtmen in granting divorce through this administrative process is described. A total of 94% of all divorces in Denmark are handled through this procedure.     

DIVORCE AND ATTACHMENT RELATIONSHIPS: THE LONGITUDINAL JOURNEY

What are the longitudinal consequences of disrupted attachment relationships, and what bearing might that have on our thinking about divorce custody matters? In this paper, Alan Sroufe, William Harris Professor of Child Development, University of Minnesota, addresses these issues. Sroufe is a lead researcher on the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Childhood, now a 30‐year research program that sets out to explore the development of children growing up in climates of chronic socioeconomic risk. This study is widely attributed with providing an “organizational perspective” on early attachment and an ecological map of the child's growing ability to cope with chronic environmental and familial strain across lifetime. In this interview, Sroufe offers candid views from his longitudinal research, emphasizing the influence of attachment security in the progression of relationship competence across the life span, and considers implications for complex custody matters.     

DIVORCE AND SEPARATION IN SWEDEN

As background for my presentation regarding the Swedish method of handling custody and access, the following statistics place this presentation in context: The population of Sweden in 1988 was 8,458,888 of which 1,847,842 were children under the age of 18. In Sweden, the legal age of majority is 18 years.     

SPLIT IDENTITY AND CHILDREN OF DIVORCE

Divorce, although a statistical norm, is a developmental trauma to the children involved. This article looks at the two-camp emotional environment of a divorcing family and its effect on the formation of a child's identity. By examining developmental ages, chosen according to divorce research, the author attempts to show how the interspouse emotional cathexes negatively affect a child's sense of self in ways specific to the child's age at the divorce.     

SAMSON AND DELILAH IN DIVORCE MEDIATION

Does divorce mediation pose special problems for women that it does not pose for men? This article argues that the metaphor of power imbalances that has been invoked to express this concern has not only caused those in the field to see husbands and wives in political terms, but also prevented them from seeing how women, as well as men, influence the outcome of the discussions that take place between them.     

MOTHERING,FATHERING, AND DIVORCE: THE INFLUENCE OF DIVORCE ON REPORTS OF AND DESIRES FOR MATERNAL AND PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT*

The present study investigated the extent to which young adults' reports of—and desires for—maternal and paternal involvement differed between intact and divorced families. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,376 young adults completed measures of reported and desired mothering and fathering across 20 parenting domains. Results indicated that both reports of and desires for father involvement differed sharply by family form (intact versus divorced), whereas few family form differences emerged for reported or desired mother involvement. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for custody and access decisions within the family court system.