Coleman, M., Ganong, L., Russell, L., & Frye-Cox, N. (2015). Stepchildren’s Views About Former Step-Relationships Following Stepfamily Dissolution. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77(3), 775-790. doi:
King, V., Boyd, L. M., & Thorsen, M. L. (2015). Adolescents’ Perceptions of Family Belonging in Stepfamilies. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77(3), 761-774. doi:
As we think about how to talk with teens about divorce issues, here are some reminders about their use of social media.
Here are some more video stories for teens.
Here are some helpful ideas from Auntie Sparknotes
Two minutes of advice by Jennifer Aniston about the challenges of dealing with her parents’ divorce.
http://on.aol.com/video/how-my-parents-divorce-shaped-me–from-jennifer-aniston-518613321
Several students have been looking for material for teens so that we can begin to understand what is available to teens online. Here is some of what we have found. We are not recommending any of this material. Let us know if you are familiar with other material.
http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-Your-Parents%27-Divorce
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070615234730AAbgo1I
http://www.safeteens.org/relationships/dealing-with-divorce/
http://nypost.com/2014/10/22/10-reasons-im-a-better-person-because-my-parents-are-divorced/
There are many videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=my+parents+are+getting+a+divorce
We have begun collecting information and programs to support teens dealing with their parents divorce. Here are some examples:
Online Programs
Family Change: Teen Guide to Separation and Divorce– Designed by the California Courts
Children of Divorce– Coping with Divorce (this program has a fee)
Support Groups
I Am a Child of Divorce
Also, we have begun to collect some of the recent scientific literature on teens’ perspective on their parents’ divorce.
Hartman, L.R., Magalhaes, L., and Mandic, A. “What does parental divorce or marital separation mean for adolescents? A scoping review of north American literature” (2011). Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 52, 490-518. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10502556.2011.609432
Deborah Gatins , C. Ryan Kinlaw & Linda L. Dunlap (2013) Do the Kids Think
They’re Okay? Adolescents’ Views on the Impact of Marriage and Divorce, Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 54:4, 313-328, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10502556.2013.780496
This is a very powerful story of one young person’s story of divorce and recovery. What do you think? What does this tell us?
In the next few months divorcescience.org will be trying to identify and examine online support groups for teens and young adults. Our plan is to try to understand the more about how these work, their reach and their effectiveness.
Here is the first one on the list:
Please send us links or comments about other groups like this.
Heintz-Martin, V., Le Bourdais, C., & Hamplova, D. (2014). Childbearing among canadian stepfamilies . Canadian Studies in Population, 41(1-2), 61-77. doi:https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/csp/article/view/21636
King, V., Thorsen, M. L., & Amato, P. R.Factors associated with positive relationships between stepfathers and adolescent stepchildren. Social Science Research, (0) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.03.010