Family life in postdivorce families

Abstract

Traditionally, families in Western societies were considered to comprise two married different-sex parents and their children, who all resided in the same household. This so-called nuclear family did family life together: nuclear family members went on vacation and celebrated birthdays and each other’s achievements together. Naturally, this nuclear family was a cohesive unit (i.e., the family is a tight-knit unit). The substantial increase in the rates of divorce and repartnering since the 1960s have challenged the dominance of the nuclear family. Postdivorce families usually do not live under one roof: they are spread out over several households. This implies that postdivorce families are configured differently than nuclear families and most likely do not function like them. This dissertation uses large-scale quantitative and qualitative data to explore how family life in postdivorce families is organized, and the role that postdivorce family diversity (e.g., in terms of children’s residence arrangements or the type of parental repartnering) plays for postdivorce family life.