Family Transitions

Philip A. Cowan, E. Mavis Hetherington

"...sure to be loved by those researchers who adhere to a positivistic epistemological approach to scientific inquiry. The chapters read like extremely well-written journal articles."—The American Journal of Family Therapy"...provides invaluable literature reviews and includes some excellent work. It promises to be a cohesive compilation of theory and research on family transitions, and the chapters in the first section set challenging and exciting definitions, goals, and standards."—Child, Youth, and Family Services Quarterly"...near the 'cutting edge' of family development, reviewing past concerns, reporting present research efforts, and pointing the way to new inquiries....should be read by all scholars in the field of family development..."—Merril Palmer Quarterly"...a valuable addition to the body of literature on family transitions....The editors have taken on a major task, and they have done an admirable job."—Contemporary Psychology

• Contents: Part I:Perspectives.P.A. Cowan, Individual and Family Life Transitions: A Proposal for a New Definition. G.H. Elder, Jr., Family Transitions, Cycles, and Social Change. J.R. Dura, J.K. Kiecolt-Glaser, Family Transitions, Stress, and Health. Part II:Normative and Nonnormative Transitions.C.P. Cowan, P.A. Cowan, G. Heming, N.B. Miller, Becoming a Family: Marriage, Parenting, and Child Development. D. Baumrind, Effective Parenting During the Early Adolescent Transition. E.M. Hetherington, The Role of Individual Differences and Family Relationships in Children's Coping with Divorce and Remarriage. G.R. Patterson, D.M. Capaldi, Antisocial Parents: Unskilled and Vulnerable. E.A. Blechman, Effective Communication: Enabling Multiproblem Families to Change. Part III:Metaphors and Models.J.M. Gottman, Chaos and Regulated Change in Families: A Metaphor for the Study of Transitions. R.F. Falk, N.B. Miller, A Soft Models Approach to Family Transitions.