Handbook of Divorce and Relationship Dissolution ‐ Edited by Mark A. Fine & John H. Harvey

Abstract

Handbook of Divorce and Relationship Dissolution. Mark A. Fine & John H. Harvey (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 2006. 679 pp. ISBN 0-8058-5905-5. $75.00. (cloth) Mark Fine and John Harvey's latest book, Handbook of Divorce and Relationship Dissolution, is a valuable contribution to family scholarship. As they state in their introduction, Mark Fine and John Harvey developed the handbook because they could not find a book to which readers could turn for a review of the substantial existing knowledge about divorce and dissolution. Their goal in editing the handbook was to provide such a volume while filling three general gaps they identified in dissolution literature. The first was a lack of information about the processes of divorce. The second gap was a dearth of research about diverse groups of people beyond the White middle-class samples so often studied in dissolution research. The third gap was the comparatively small amount of scholarly attention afforded to relationship dissolution other than divorce, including cohabiting and romantic dating relationships. Thus, Fine and Harvey set out to accomplish a formidable task in a single edition. This comprehensive book is clearly laid out into eight sections. The first is an introduction written by the editors. The second reviews the demographic and historical context of relationship dissolution. Gay Kitson offers an interesting review of the history of research on divorce and dissolution, whereas Paul Amato and Shelley Irving succinctly relate the history of American divorce. Since many accounts of change in divorce patterns seem to begin in the rather anomalous 1950s, Amato and living's chapter tracing the frequency of divorce, legal regulation of divorce, and public attitudes toward divorce from the colonial era through the end of the 20th century is particularly valuable. Jay Teachman, Lucky Tedrow, and Matthew Hall conclude the second section by devising a model to predict the future of divorce. The third section begins the meat of the book, delving into the causes, and underlying processes of divorce and relationship dissolution. The 10 chapters in this section discuss general predictors of marital and nonmarital dissolution as well as the complex relationships between dissolution and subjects as diverse as postdissolution friendships, harmful interactions, infidelity, physical aggression, processes of disaffection, gender, and coparenting. Amy Rodrigues, Julie Hall, and Frank Fincham contribute an almost encyclopedic chapter on the causes of divorce and relationship dissolution that would be an excellent introduction for those unfamiliar with predictors of divorce. Then section 4 outlines the consequences of divorce and relationship dissolution for both parents and children. Most of the chapters focus on negative effects of dissolution, but Ty Tashiro, Patricia Frazier, and Margit Herman contribute a unique chapter about how stressrelated growth can accompany divorce and dissolution. They analyze such growth in both divorcing partners and children, explaining how the stress-relief and crisis-relief pathways work, and delineating the correlates of positive outcomes, such as being socially skilled, selfsufficient, sensitive and responsive to others' feelings (for children), and having material, social, and coping resources, attributing the divorce to problems inherent in the relationship, and sex (for adults). section 5 highlights the coping mechanisms people employ to deal with the end of romantic relationships. Particularly, interesting is Tamara Afifi and Kellie Hamrick's chapter on communication processes that promote risk and resiliency in families that have experienced divorce. They describe how openness, direct and active coping with stress, compromise, problem solving, family rituals, and positive communication can foster resilience and strength among family members after divorce. section 6 is a brief look at variations in divorce and dissolution among diverse groups (i. …