ABSTRACT We examined the validity of the Japanese versions of the Revised Questionnaire for Couples in Stepfamilies and the Remarriage Belief Inventory in Japan where social and cultural patterns of divorce and remarriage are substantially different from the West. Participants were 548 married Japanese individuals in stepfamilies. Both scales’ validity, factor structure, and internal consistency were confirmed. The links between remarriage beliefs, marital adjustment and various challenges experienced by couples in stepfamilies were examined. Stepparents’ belief that success is slim was associated with biological parents’ low marital quality and the difficulties they experienced as spouses. Biological fathers’ belief that adjustment should come quickly was related to stepmothers’ difficulties in fulfilling the social and family dimension in stepfamilies.

ABSTRACT This study examines the probability of the age at first marriage in predicting the occurrence of marital dissolution in Java, Indonesia. Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey 2012 data were employed and selected a total of 10,046 ever-married women residing in Java. About 28% of Javanese women who married before or at age 16, and 14.7% of women who married after age 16 experienced divorce. The proportion of divorce was higher among women with lower educational attainment, rural women, East Javanese women who married early, West Javanese women who delayed marriage, and women with no children.

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to analyze the role of ego-resiliency in maintaining psychological well-being after divorce among the initiators and non-initiators of marital breakup. The sample consisted of 157 divorced individuals, 64.70% of whom were initiators, and 35.30% non-initiators. Our findings indicate that ego-resiliency mediated completely the relationship between the sense of loss and grief associated with divorce and the psychological well-being in the subgroup of divorce non-initiators. In the subgroup of divorce initiators, such mediation effect is statistically insignificant. The study confirms the importance of ego-resiliency for the psychological adjustment of people after divorce, especially for non-initiators of divorce.

ABSTRACT There is a lack of validated short screening instruments specifically addressing conflict and cooperation post-relationship/marital dissolution. Accordingly, this study aims to validate the newly developed Divorce Conflict Scale and evaluate divorce conflict levels in relation to sociodemographic and divorce-related variables. Two samples of recently divorced parents were recruited through the Danish State Administration (sample one n = 1144, sample two n = 420). The instrument fulfilled the recommended criteria in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Women reported high conflict levels and more factors contributed to higherer conflict than men did. The short 6-item Divorce Conflict Scale is a highly applicable measure in research, clinical, and public policy settings.

ABSTRACTThe goal of this research was to test the predictive ability of attachment styles and dysfunctional relational communication patterns to predict adults’ relationship status (i.e., single/partnered and ever-married/ever-divorced). Anxious and avoidant attachment styles and dysfunctional relational communication patterns (i.e., criticism, defensiveness, contempt, stonewalling) were predictors of relationship status in 413 adults who participated in an online survey. The results indicated that anxious and avoidant attachment styles significantly predicted both history of divorce and single versus partnered relationship status. The dysfunctional communication patterns did not explain a great deal of variance in relationship history and status above and beyond insecure attachment, although dysfunctional communication was significantly and consistently associated with insecure attachment. These results indicate that some of the individual characteristics that generate a risk for divorce might also pose a barrier to repartnering after a divorce.

ABSTRACTThis longitudinal study examined relations between mother–child relationship quality and father support in adolescence (ages 15–19) and emerging adults’ (ages 24–28) romantic anxiety and avoidance in a sample that experienced parental divorce in childhood (n = 72). A significant interactive effect of mother–adolescent relationship quality and father support on romantic anxiety occurred. High levels of father support protected emerging adults from the negative effects of a low quality mother–adolescent relationship. These results highlight the importance of examining effects of one parental relationship in the context of the other and the role that nonresidential fathers play in influencing their offspring’s romantic attachment.

ABSTRACTThis study assessed the relationships between psychological morbidity, social intimacy, perception of the parental relationship, lifestyle and physical symptomatology as well as the contributors of physical symptomatology, in adult children of divorced parents. Participants answered the Physical Symptom Questionnaire, the Anxiety, Depression and Stress Scale, the Lifestyle Questionnaire, the Social Intimacy Scale and The Perception of the Parental Relationship Scale. Results revealed that older participants showed lower levels of anxiety, depression and stress and that male participants perceived the parental relationship as better when compared to females. There was a negative association between depression and the duration of parental divorce. Adult children with greater physical symptoms and more anxious showed less social intimacy. The latter was associated with a less healthy lifestyle. As expected less physical symptomatology was associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Anxiety was the only variable that contributed to physical symptomatology. Intervention should be gender sensitive and focus early on on the identification of psychological morbidity, social intimacy, healthy behaviors, and physical symptomatology, in adult children whose parents are in the process of divorcing.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to identify types of coparenting in stepfamilies based on observational data and to examine whether these types differed regarding marital satisfaction and child adjustment. Forty-five couples attended two videotaped discussion tasks on topics of agreement and disagreement regarding coparenting issues. An exploratory cluster analysis identified three main types of coparenting in stepfamilies: (1) Cooperative coparenting (n = 19), (2) Complementing coparenting (n = 16), and (3) Conflictual coparenting (n = 10). The Complementing coparenting type appeared as a new type of coparenting that had not been described in earlier studies and that might be specific to coparenting between non-biological parents. Comparison between the three clusters showed no differences for marital satisfaction and child adjustment. Each cluster is illustrated by a family case to provide a better understanding of coparenting dynamics in stepfamilies.

ABSTRACTLittle is known about the perceptions of Chinese couples who resort to fake divorce. This study represents the results of a qualitative research on the triggers for fake divorce in China. Couples were purposefully sampled and data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Couples dictated their own versions of causes for fake divorce, which partly corresponded with previous studies. Given that fake divorce entailed negative effects, certain suggestions were proposed. By enriching the explanations of the triggers for fake divorce and the negative effects, this study compels us to rethink the relationship between the state, policy or law, and the society in contemporary China.