THE ECONOMIC CHOICE IN DIVORCE:

Abstract

The creation of traditional family patterns and the transformation of these patterns into stereotypical nuclear study models has spawned a prolific amount of literature on individual happiness, psychological gratification and emotional self-sufficiency. The fragmentation of these family models through divorce has resulted in a breakdown of family function and a disassociation of its members. While some attention has been paid to the economic impact of divorce on the nuclear family, little concern has been shown regarding the economic ramifications on the post-divorce family unit. It is hypothesized that in the post-divorce period, the nuclear has been reshaped or reformed into an extended family. The dissolution-fragmentation process changes the environment in which the family continues to function. It is this extended family and the environment which sustains it that presents the focus of our inquiry. Although we do not disagree that the nuclear family is the predominant model as established by former st...