Divorce Process Variables and the Article Critique

All of the couples shared the following conditions: both living in Israel, divorced for at least 1 1/2 years, at least one child between 2 and 16 years of age, and the mother having custody (Nehami, 2003). Furthermore, the fathers all had contact with their children after the divorce, which is not universal (Nehami, 2003). This is a very specific sample. It would be difficult to suggest that the study would generalize to all people. It might generalize to all divorced people in Israel sharing the same characteristics, which would be a significantly large population. However, different legal systems are going to show bias towards fathers or towards mothers, which changes the nature of the divorce process. In fact, in some areas, men must be the initiators of divorce, so that would not even be a variable. Therefore, in many ways, this study simply cannot be generalized to different populations.

How the Study Impacts Society

There is no question that divorce can have a negative impact on children, but also no doubt that growing up in a family with the type of strife that leads to divorce is also negative. In many ways, this catch-22 scenario has led people to believe that a bad marriage would lead to some type of difficulties for children. However, this study certainly suggests that different factors impact how a person responds, as a parent, to different aspects of divorce. Taking steps to make divorces more amiable should contribute to better post-divorce coparenting, at least in this population.

References

Nehami, B. (2003). Divorced process variables and the co-parental relationship and parental role…