This paper considers how complex family circumstances such as parental separation, custody disputes and family violence intersect with the organisational cultures and everyday practices of schools. In particular, we are concerned with the ways that coercive control -- a strategy used predominantly by men to dominate, control and oppress women in…

This study produces a grounded theory of how 20 predominantly White, well-educated women experienced sharing physical custody of their children with their former partners after divorce or separation. Three patterns of coparenting were identified in the data: "continuously contentious", "always amicable", and "bad to better". Five negative factors…

We investigate which partner of a 2-gender couple moves out after separation. We test hypotheses on the impact of differences between the partners in the costs of moving out and resources, using data from the Divorce in the Netherlands survey (N = 1,537 ex-couples who separated between 1972 and 1998). Ex-partners initiating the separation were…

Second marriages are known to be more fragile than first marriages. To better understand the factors that contribute to this fragility, this qualitative study compared stepfamilies that stayed together with those that separated by collecting interview data from one adult in each of the former (n = 31) and latter (n = 26) stepfamilies. Data were…

Researchers rely on relationship data to measure the multifaceted nature of families. This article speaks to relationship data quality by examining the ramifications of different types of error on divorce estimates, models predicting divorce behavior, and models employing divorce as a predictor. Comparing matched survey and divorce certificate…

Following divorce or separation, father-child contact is deemed an important influence on child development. Previous research has explored the impact of sociodemographic and attitudinal factors on the amount of contact between fathers and their children following a union dissolution. This article revisits this important question using fathers'…

Domestic violence continues to be a serious problem for women in the United States. As a result, the battered women's movement has been tireless in campaigning for greater awareness of the issue, tougher penalties against offenders, and public vigilance against potential batterers, including fathers from dissolving families. In reaction to this…

Policies governing divorce and parenting, such as child support orders and enforcement, child custody regulations, and marital dissolution requirements, can have a large impact on the welfare of parents and children. Recent research has produced evidence on the responses of divorce rates to unilateral divorce laws and child support enforcement. In…